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• According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a United Nations body, 2021 was one of the seven hottest years on record.

Key Findings

• As per six international data sets consolidated by the WMO, although La Niña conditions between 2020 and 2022 had a cooling effect on the global average temperatures, 2021 was still one of the seven hottest years on record.
• La Niña refers to a large-scale cooling of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean which has a temporary global cooling effect.
• The average global temperature last year was 1.11 (± 0.13) degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, spanning the period from 1850 to 1900.
• Last year was the seventh consecutive year, starting with 2015, when the global average temperature was more than 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
• Since the 1980s, each decade has been hotter than the previous one, according to the data put together by the UN body, and the trend is likely to continue.
• The hottest seven years have all been recorded since 2015, with 2016, 2019 and 2020 topping the list.
• The year 2021 will be remembered for a record-shattering temperature of nearly 50 degrees Celsius in Canada, comparable to the values reported in the hot Saharan desert of Algeria, exceptional rainfall, and deadly flooding in Asia and Europe as well as drought in parts of Africa and South America.
• According to the Annual Climate Statement 2021 released by the India Meteorological Department, 2021 was also the fifth hottest during the past 121 years for India, after 2016, 2009, 2017 and 2010.
• The Paris Agreement aims to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

About World Meteorological Organisation

• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 193 Member States and Territories. 
• Established by the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950, WMO became the specialized agency of the United Nations for meteorology, operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences. 
• The Secretariat, headquartered in Geneva, is headed by the Secretary-General. 
• Its supreme body is the World Meteorological Congress.

Reference:

1. https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/2021-was-among-the-seven-hottest-years-on-record-says-un-body-101642585339685.html