Based on data collected by the World Meteorological Organisation, WMO, in its annual statement on the behaviour of the global climate, 2019 is expected to join 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2010 and 2009 in the top ten of the hottest years ever, PricewaterCoopers has predicted. (Data for 2018 has yet to be published)

According PwC report titled: Predictions for 2019: Coming Off the Boil, analysis by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) suggested that the global temperature level in 2017 was 1.1°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.

This is more than halfway towards the ceiling of limiting warming to below 2°C relative to the pre-industrial average set under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

Global greenhouse gas emissions are generating record-breaking high temperatures around the world and also appear to be contributing to more frequent extreme weather events.

According to an insurance firm, Munich Re, total disaster losses from climate-associated events in 2017 reached $320 billion, an inflation-adjusted record high.