The UN meteorological agency says the past eight years from 2015 to 2022 will likely be the warmest on record.

The World Meteorological Organization released the outlook at a news conference in Egypt, on Sunday, when the COP27 climate change meeting opened there.

The WMO says the average global temperature in 2022 through the end of September is estimated to be 1.15 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial levels as greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere rise.

It says a La Nina phenomenon has kept global temperatures relatively low, but 2022 is likely to be the fifth or sixth warmest year.

The organization reported that in Switzerland, 6 percent of the glacier ice volume was lost between 2021 and 2022, and that the average global sea level rose about 5 millimeters between January 2021 and August 2022.

Extreme weather has affected many areas this year, such as flooding in Pakistan and droughts in Europe and Africa.

In a video message, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says, "Our planet is sending a distress signal," and "Change is happening with catastrophic speed -- devastating lives and livelihoods on every content."

He added, "We must answer the planet's distress signal with action -- ambitious, credible climate action."