2015 set to be hottest year on record: UN

The year 2015 is shaping up to be the hottest on record, the UN's weather agency said Nov. 25, days before a UN summit opens in Paris to craft a climate rescue pact.
 
Based on data for the first 10 months of the year, "We feel very confident... that 2015 will be the warmest year on record," said Michel Jarraud, head of the World Meteorological Organization.
 
The WMO said land and sea temperatures were likely to surpass those of 2014 as the highest since record-keeping began.
 
"This is all bad news for the planet," Jarraud told reporters in Geneva.
 
The UN agency usually waits to have a full year's worth of data before drawing such conclusions but said it wanted its preliminary findings "to inform negotiators at the UN Climate Change Conference."  

More than 145 world leaders are set to gather in Paris from Monday for a conference seeking to cap average global warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above mid-19th century levels.
 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Nov. 25 insisted the Paris agreement must include "a binding review mechanism under international law" to make sure countries' carbon-curbing actions are ramped up until the 2 C target comes into focus.
 
Based on current voluntary pledges, Earth is on track for 3 C.
         
Alarmingly, WMO said the global average surface temperature would this year pass "the symbolic and significant milestone" of 1 C above the pre-industrial era.    

According to Jarraud, "we have already warmed the atmosphere by more than half.
 
"This is of great concern," he said, and pointed out that the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere broke a new record this year.    

These gases can...