UN weather agency issues ‘red alert’ about climate change

Celeste Saulo, World Meteorological Organisation secretary-general, spoke about the state of the climate (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

The UN weather agency has sounded a “red alert” about global warming, citing record increases last year in greenhouse gases, land and water temperatures and melting of glaciers and sea ice.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), in a State Of The Global Climate report released on Tuesday, ratcheted up concerns that a much-vaunted climate goal is increasingly in jeopardy – that the world can limit planetary warming to no more than 1.5C from pre-industrial levels.