There is an 80% chance that global temperatures will break at least one annual heat record in the next five years, raising the risk of extreme droughts, floods and forest fires, a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shown, reports The Guardian.

For the first time, the data also indicated a small likelihood that before 2030, the world could experience a year that is 2C hotter than the preindustrial era, a possibility scientists described as “shocking."

Coming after the hottest 10 years ever measured, the latest medium-term global climate update highlights the growing threat to human health, national economies and natural landscapes unless people stop burning oil, gas, coal, and trees.

The update, which synthesizes short-term weather observations and long-term climate projections, said there was a 70% chance that five-year average warming for 2025-2029 will be more than 1.5C above preindustrial levels.

This would put the world perilously close to breaking the most ambitious target of the Paris Agreement, an international climate change treaty, though that goal is based on an average over 20 years.

It also reported an 86% likelihood that 1.5C would be passed in at least one of the next five years, up from 40% in the 2020 report.

In 2024, the 1.5C threshold was breached on an annual basis for the first time—an outcome that was considered implausible in any of the five-year predictions before 2014. Last year was the hottest in the 175-year observational record.