That's a stark change from 2015, when the WMO considered the prospect of temporarily overshooting 1.5 degrees Celsius close to zero.
The 1.5 degrees Celsius limit is the aspirational target of the landmark Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change that was adopted in 2015.
Scientists say that exceeding this temperature threshold over the long term will lead to increasingly frequent and catastrophic extreme weather events.
António Guterres United Nations Secretary-GeneralEven at current levels of global warming, there are already devastating climate change impacts.
Guterres said that the battle to limit long-term temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius will be won or lost in the 2020s under the watch of today's world leaders.
Persons:
Javier Torres, António Guterres, Guterres, Antonio Guterres, Charly Triballeau, Angelos Tzortzinis
Organizations:
Afp, Getty, United Nations, World Meteorological Organization, WMO, UN, American Museum of
Locations:
Quilpue comune, Valparaiso region, Chile, Paris, Russian, New York, Italy, Athens