CO2: 416.71 ppmLast year joined the list of the seven warmest years on record, the UN weather agency said on Wednesday, and was also the seventh consecutive year when the global temperature has been more than 1°C above pre-industrial levels; edging closer to the limit laid out under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
The past eight years have been the eight hottest ever recorded on the planet.
Last year wasn't quite as hot as 2020, due in part to a cooling La Niña pattern that persisted through much of 2021.
Two U.S. science agencies say 2021 was the sixth hottest year on record globally, part of a long-term warming trend.
The last 45 years have all been above the 20th-century average for global temperature, NOAA reports, as Earth continues its relentless warming due to heat-trapping fossil fuel emissions.
Last year was the hottest on record for the world's oceans for the third year in a row, according to new research.
2021 continued the trend as one of the hottest years on record since the 1800s.
The finding, by European researchers, fits a clear warming trend: The seven hottest years on record have been the past seven.
The last seven years have been the seven warmest on record for the planet, new data shows, as Earth's temperature continues its precarious climb due to heat-trapping fossil fuel emissions.
Experts say collation of six major datasets shows 2021 was seventh year in a row with temperatures more than 1C above pre-industrial times.