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This story originally appeared in Common Dreams<\/a> on May 10, 2022. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The World Meteorological Organization warned Monday that the planet now faces a 50% chance of temporarily hitting 1.5\u00b0C of warming above pre-industrial levels over the next five years, another signal that political leaders\u2014particularly those of the rich nations most responsible for carbon emissions\u2014are failing to rein in fossil fuel use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, by comparison, the likelihood of briefly reaching or exceeding 1.5\u00b0C of global warming over the ensuing five-year period was estimated to be \u201cclose to zero,\u201d the WMO noted in a new climate update<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n In 2015, by comparison, the likelihood of briefly reaching or exceeding 1.5\u00b0C of global warming over the ensuing five-year period was estimated to be \u201cclose to zero,\u201d the WMO noted in a new climate update<\/a>. The report was published amid a deadly heatwave<\/a> on the Indian subcontinent that scientists say is a glimpse of what\u2019s to come if runaway carbon emissions aren\u2019t halted. Thus far, the heatwave has killed dozens<\/a> in India and Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Signatories to the Paris climate accord have agreed to act to limit the global average temperature increase to well below 2\u00b0C\u2014preferably to 1.5\u00b0C\u2014by the end of the century. Climate advocates have deemed<\/a> the 1.5\u00b0C target \u201con life support\u201d following world leaders\u2019 refusal to commit to more ambitious action at the COP26 summit in Glasgow late last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are getting measurably closer to temporarily reaching the lower target of the Paris Agreement,\u201d Petteri Taalas, the secretary-general of the WMO, said in a statement Monday. \u201cThe 1.5\u00b0C figure is not some random statistic. It is rather an indicator of the point at which climate impacts will become increasingly harmful for people and indeed the entire planet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor as long as we continue to emit greenhouse gases, temperatures will continue to rise,\u201d Taalas added. \u201cAnd alongside that, our oceans will continue to become warmer and more acidic, sea ice and glaciers will continue to melt, sea level will continue to rise and, our weather will become more extreme. Arctic warming is disproportionately high and what happens in the Arctic affects all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Leon Hermanson, a climate expert at the U.K. Met Office who led the WMO report, stressed that a short-lived breach of the 1.5\u00b0C threshold<\/a> would not mean that the world is guaranteed to fall short of the Paris accord\u2019s most ambitious warming target, which climate experts and campaigners have long decried as inadequate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such a breach, however, would \u201creveal that we are edging ever closer to a situation where 1.5\u00b0C could be exceeded for an extended period,\u201d said Hermanson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The WMO\u2019s latest research also estimates that there is a 93% chance that at least one year between 2022 and 2026 will be the warmest on record. Currently, 2016 and 2020 are tied for the top spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if global warming is limited to 1.5\u00b0C by 2100, countless people across the globe will still face devastating heatwaves, droughts, and other extreme weather, with the poor facing the worst consequences<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, key ecosystems could be damaged beyond repair in a 1.5\u00b0C hotter world. One recent study<\/a> found that 99% of the world\u2019s coral reefs would experience heatwaves that are \u201ctoo frequent for them to recover\u201d if the planet gets 1.5\u00b0C warmer compared to pre-industrial levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scientists behind the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report<\/a> cautioned last month that if there\u2019s to be any hope of keeping warming to 1.5\u00b0C or below by 2100, \u201cit\u2019s now or never.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWithout immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible,\u201d said<\/a> Jim Skea, co-chair of IPCC Working Group III.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While you are here, we want to make sure you know how vital the support of people like you is to our work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Uncompromising and relentlessly critical journalism that gets to the roots of the crises we are facing is more important than ever. We don\u2019t rely on advertising to fund our work\u2014we rely on our readers and viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to help us keep producing more of the radically independent news and in-depth analysis The Real News provides, please consider making a tax-deductible donation<\/a> or becoming a monthly sustainer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jake Johnson is a staff writer for Common Dreams. Follow him on Twitter: @johnsonjakep<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe 1.5\u00b0C figure is not some random statistic,\u201d said the head of the World Meteorological Organization. \u201cIt is rather an indicator of the point at which climate impacts will become increasingly harmful for people and indeed the entire planet.\u201d BY JAKE JOHNSON MAY 10, 2022 (CommonDreams.org) This story originally appeared in Common… Continue reading JAKE JOHNSON<\/h2>\n\n\n\n