On Tuesday 3 December the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) released the provisional statement for its 2019 State of the Climate report. The full report will be published in March but it looks certain that 2019 will conclude the decade with the highest average global temperature since records began. WMO senior scientific officer Omar Baddour was the coordinator of the report and he speaks to science journalist James Dacey in Madrid at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 25) .

Baddour, who has an academic background in physics and maths, speaks about how to report is synthesised from the multitude of available data. He also explains how the annual report’s scope has expanded to consider the impacts of climate change on natural and human systems. Acknowledging that audiences are fatigued by constant gloomy news from climate scientists, Baddour argues that such detailed climate information will be essential in the transition to low carbon societies.