2015 warmest year on record: UK weather agency

The year 2015 was the warmest year on record since 1850, according to the provisional figures for global average temperatures released Wednesday by Britain's Met Office.

The dataset was produced by scientists at the Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research and the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit.

The figures show that the average global temperature in 2015 was 0.75 degree Celsius above the long-term average between 1961 and 1990, a record since at least 1850.

When compared with the pre-industrial period, the 2015 average global temperature was around one degree Celsius above the long-term average from 1850 to 1900.

The estimated figure for 2015 is within the predicted range from the Met Office's annual global temperature forecast. The Met Office also expects 2016 to be a record-setting year.

"While there is a strong El Nino-elevated global temperature this year, it is clear that human influence is driving our climate into uncharted territory," said Prof Phil Jones, from the University of East Anglia.

Aside from the Met Office, NASA and the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also confirmed that the average global temperature in 2015 was the highest since records began in the 19th century.

"Global warming is turning hot years into record-breaking years. The global mean surface temperature last year was more than one degree Celsius above its late 19th century level, which means we are already more than halfway towards the upper threshold set in the Paris Agreement of limiting warming to well below two degrees Celsius, and to no more than 1.5 degrees if possible," said Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

It puts "pressure on governments to urgently implement their commitments to act against climate change, and to increase the strength of their planned cuts in annual emissions of greenhouse gases," said Ward. Endit