Last eight years on track to be warmest on record: UN

Each of the last eight years, if projections for 2022 hold, will be hotter than any prior to 2015, the UN said Sunday, detailing a dramatic increase in the rate of global warming.

Sea level rise, glacier melt, torrential rains, heat waves -- and the deadly disasters they cause -- have all accelerated, the World Meteorological Organization said in a report as the COP27 UN climate summit opened in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

"As COP27 gets underway, our planet is sending a distress signal," said UN chief Antonio Guterres, describing the report as "a chronicle of climate chaos".