This year is shaping up to be the the hottest on record and the first year in which average temperatures were more than 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial average, EU scientists reported on Thursday. However, the Paris 1.5-degree Celsius target for curbing the climate crisis is not yet considered missed, as longer-term average values are the basis for this assessment, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) stated. The agency forecasts that the average global temperature for the current year could even be at least 1.55 degrees Celsius above the worldwide pre-industrial…