The past decade has been the hottest on record, the UN said, warning that the higher temperatures were expected to fuel numerous extreme weather events in 2020 and beyond.
"The year 2020 has started out where 2019 left off - with high-impact weather and climate-related events," World Meteorological Organization chief Petteri Taalas said, pointing in particular to the devastating bushfires in Australia.
"Unfortunately, we expect to see much extreme weather throughout 2020 and the coming decades, fuelled by record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," the AFP cited him as saying.
According to Taalas, since modern records began in 1850, the average global temperature had risen by around 1.1 degrees Celsius, and warned of significant warming in the future.
"On the current path of carbon dioxide emissions, we are heading towards a temperature increase of three to five degrees Celsius by the end of the century," the WMO chief warned.
World warned of 'much extreme weather' in 2020
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