The rise in global temperatures from pre-industrial levels will this year exceed 1 degree Celsius for the first time, Britain’s Met Office said on Monday.

 

That would put global warming more than half way towards the 2 degree limit by 2100 that negotiators from more than 190 countries hope to set at a United Nations climate summit starting in Paris at the end of November.

 

Met Office scientists said the rise will partly be due to the naturally occurring El Nino weather phenomenon this year although the effects of man-made climate change will be the main contributor.

 

"We’ve had similar natural events in the past, yet this is the first time we are set to reach the 1 degree marker and it’s clear that it is human influence driving our modern climate into uncharted territory," said Stephen Belcher, director of the Met Office Hadley Centre in a statement.

 

Plans by about 150 countries to curb greenhouse gas emissions, presented ahead of the Paris talks, will slow the rise in temperature from pre-industrial times to around 2.7 degrees, the U.N. said last month.

 

Scientists say warming by 2100 must be kept below 2 degrees to stave off the worst effects of climate change such as floods, droughts and rising sea levels.

 

 

PHOTO: A woman drives with an umbrella to protect herself from the sun as she drives a cart along an empty street in Palm Springs, California August 6, 2015.

CREDIT: Reuters/Carlos Barria.