Pledges made ahead of the climate conference in Paris are short of what's needed to address stated climate change goals, analysis finds.

Countries that combine for 86 percent of total world greenhouse gas emissions in October issued pledges that, if fully realized, would keep levels at or near today's levels by the end of 2030.

Analysis group IHS finds emissions from advanced economies decline by about 20 percent over 2012 levels, while emissions from emerging economies grow by 30 percent. Combined, analysis finds it's not enough to keep warming in check.

"This represents approximately 40 percent of greenhouse gas reductions needed to reach the United Nations goal of limiting global average temperature increase to less than 2 degrees Celsius by 2100," it said in an emailed report.

IHS adds many of the parties to a U.N. convention on climate change don't have clear market-based mechanisms in place to drive emissions lower. More than 25 percent of the contributions proposed, meanwhile, rely on funding that's yet to materialize.

The International Energy Agency warned earlier this year that policy uncertainty and a lack of incentives leaves global renewable energy development far short of what's needed to abate warming.

Several major economies are taking steps to move away from coal-fired power, one of the larger sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The British government earlier this month said it would start restricting the reliance on coal-fired power by 2023 and close all coal-fired power stations by 2025.

A federal plan in the United States calls for a 32 percent reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, by 2030 in part by diversification schemes.

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, said pledges released so far are short of the 2100 goal by nearly a full degree, though they will make "a significant dent" in emissions if fully implemented.

2015 set to be hottest year on record: UN
Geneva (AFP) Nov 25, 2015 - The year 2015 is shaping up to be the hottest on record, the UN's weather agency said Wednesday, days before a UN summit opens in Paris to craft a climate rescue pact.

Based on data for the first 10 months of the year, "We feel very confident... that 2015 will be the warmest year on record," said Michel Jarraud, head of the World Meteorological Organization.

The WMO said land and sea temperatures were likely to surpass those of 2014 as the highest since record-keeping began.

"This is all bad news for the planet," Jarraud told reporters in Geneva.

The UN agency usually waits to have a full year's worth of data before drawing such conclusions but said it wanted its preliminary findings "to inform negotiators at the UN Climate Change Conference."

More than 145 world leaders are set to gather in Paris from Monday for a conference seeking to cap average global warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above mid-19th century levels.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday insisted the Paris agreement must include "a binding review mechanism under international law" to make sure countries' carbon-curbing actions are ramped up until the 2 C target comes into focus.

Based on current voluntary pledges, Earth is on track for 3 C.

- 'Time is running out' -

Alarmingly, WMO said the global average surface temperature would this year pass "the symbolic and significant milestone" of 1 C above the pre-industrial era.

According to Jarraud, "we have already warmed the atmosphere by more than half.

"This is of great concern," he said, and pointed out that the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere broke a new record this year.

These gases can remain in the atmosphere for centuries and will continue warming the climate long after emissions are cut.

"Time is really not on our side," Jarraud said. The 2 C target remained achievable, but "the more we wait to take action, the more difficult it will be."

"We have the knowledge and the tools to act. We have a choice," said Jarraud. "Future generations will not."

Sea-surface temperatures hit new records last year, and WMO said they were "likely to equal or surpass that record in 2015."

Since oceans have been absorbing more than 90 percent of the energy accumulated in the climate system from human emissions of greenhouse gases, temperatures at greater depths are also rising, as are sea levels, the agency said.

In the first nine months of 2015, global ocean heat content in both the upper 700 metres (2,300 feet) and 2,000 metres hit record highs, it said.

Sea levels in the first half of the year, meanwhile, appeared to be "the highest since satellite observations became available in 1993."

- 'Systematic trend' -

The UN agency said temperatures also had hit never-before-seen highs over land in many parts of the world.

"We have really broken records almost everywhere," Jarraud said.

The soaring temperatures come as El Nino, a natural phenomenon that sparks global weather extremes, is at its strongest in more than 15 years and gaining strength.

El Nino, which occurs every two to seven years, tends to naturally hike temperatures, and the WMO said it was not clear how much of this year's record heat could be attributed to the phenomenon.

Analysis over longer periods, however, clearly shows a "systematic trend" of warming, Jarraud said.

WMO said 2011-2015 marked the hottest five-year period ever measured, at 0.57 C above the 1961-90 average.

El Nino years are also growing warmer, and even the counter-phenomenon La Nina, which tends to cool temperatures, is far warmer than a few decades ago, Jarraud said.

"What we call a cold year now would have been considered a record warm year before 1997," he added.

The impact of climate change on the frequency and strength of extreme weather events, especially heatwaves, is becoming increasingly clear, the agency said.

Over the past five years, the probability of severe heatwaves has increased by a factor of 10 in some cases.

France said Wednesday it would deploy some 11,000 police to secure the UN climate summit, hosted in a city still reeling from November 13 jihadist attacks which killed 130 people.