This year is on track to be one of the three warmest on record. 

(Fox News)

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) says the average global temperature in 2020 is set to be about 1.2C above the preindustrial (1850-1900) level.

But with temperatures expected to continue rising the WMO estimates there is a one in five chance of it temporarily exceeding 1.5C by 2024.

That is significant because in the Paris Climate Change Agreement of 2015, countries agreed to try to limit global warming to 1.5C and well below 2C.

WMO secretary-general Professor Petteri Taalas said: "This year is the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We welcome all the recent commitments by governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions because we are currently not on track and more efforts are needed."

There is some hope that runaway climate change can be averted with the signing up to net zero on or around the middle of the century by the world's worst polluters China and the United States and well over a hundred other countries.

(Lupni.com/Sky news)