Global temperature

Global mean temperature for the period 2011-2020 was 1.10 ± 0.12 °C above the 1850-1900 average. This is based on the average of six data sets and is consistent with the value derived by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - 1.09 °C - using a different combination of data sets. The warmest six years on record globally were between 2015 and 2020. The actual warmest year was quite likely 2016, which followed the exceptionally powerful 2015-2016 El Niño episode. The coldest year of the decade was most likely 2011, which came after a strong La Niña occurrence in 2010 and early 2011. Regionally, temperatures were warmer than the 1981-2010 average across most regions of the planet. It was the warmest decade on record for each of the WMO regional associations: Africa, Asia, South America, North America, the South-west Pacific, and Europe. Limited regions of below-average temperatures were confined to the south-east Pacific, parts of the Southern Ocean and an area of the North Atlantic to the south of Greenland. The largest positive anomalies for the decade, in places more than 2 °C above the 1981-2010 average, were located in the Arctic.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Climate Action