The climate threat|Global challenges

Analyses: Hasn't run - but the warning bells are ringing  

The fact that the world's average temperature is likely to exceed 1.5 degrees in the coming years, according to the climate body WMO, should not be seen as a failure. But it should be seen as a warning bell, writes the BBC's climate correspondent Matt McGrath.  

In the Paris Agreement, it is stated that the average temperature must not exceed 1.5 degrees. But for the goal to be exceeded, the temperature must be above 1.5 degrees for 20 years.  

"However, if we cross the line, even if only for a year, it is a sign that global warming is accelerating rather than slowing down," he writes.  

The Guardian's climate correspondent Fiona Harvey writes that the WMO in its report believes that less rain will fall over the rainforests of South America and Asia. Instead, it will rain more over the northern hemisphere.  

She writes that this could have "catastrophic consequences for the planet". This as the Arctic ice will melt at a faster rate, while the carbon-sipping rainforests will not get the rain they need. She quotes Petteri Taalas, who is behind the WMO report: 

"We are moving into uncharted territory".