A new report shows that the last eight years have been the warmest on record as the growing concentration of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere pushes global temperatures towards dangerous tipping points.<br />”<br />”An analysis by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service published on Tuesday said that 2022 was the fifth-warmest year for the planet since records began. It also reported that Europe recorded its warmest summer last year and it is the second warmest year overall, exceeded only by 2020.<br />”<br />”The report said that the annual average temperature reached 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, marking the eighth year in a row of temperatures at least 1 degree above the 1850 to 1900 reference period.<br />”<br />”Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, most countries agreed to limit warming to well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, but preferably to 1.5 degrees.<br />”<br />”The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identified the 1.5-degree mark as a key threshold and said breaching it would dramatically increase the risk of extreme weather events and irreversible changes.<br />”<br />”<br />