With the prevailing heatwave conditions across India and the slow progress of the monsoon, weather experts see climate change as the major factor behind hot and humid weather in the country even after the early arrival of the monsoon.

At least 110 people have died and 40,000 suffered from suspected heatstroke during the summer between March 1 and June 18 this year, according to a health ministry report.

The weather scientists attributed the heatwave to human-induced climate change that resulted in temperatures soaring to nearly 50 degree C in north India this year.

According to World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), there is an 80 per cent chance that the annual average global temperature will temporarily exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least one of the next five years.

"This serves as a stark warning that we are moving closer to the thresholds set by the Paris Agreement on climate change. It's important to note that the Paris Agreement targets long-term temperature increases over decades, not just over one to five years, the WMO stated.

The global mean near-surface temperature for each year between 2024 and 2028 is projected to be between 1.1°C and 1.9°C higher than the 1850-1900 baseline, according to the WMO report. The report states that there is an 86% likelihood that at least one of these years will set a new temperature record, surpassing 2023, which is currently the warmest year on record.

“We are playing Russian roulette with our planet,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. “We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell. And the good news is that we have control of the wheel. The battle to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees will be won or lost in the 2020s – under the watch of leaders today.”

He also referenced supporting evidence from the European Union-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service, implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. This data indicated that each of the past 12 months has set a new global temperature record for that time of year.