UN warns five years warmest period from 2023-2027

A top EU climate official said Monday there is a "contradiction" between China's ambitious goals to combat global warming and its continued building of coal-fired power plants.

China is also the biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases driving climate change, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), and its emissions pledges are seen as essential to keeping global temperature rise well below two degrees Celsius.However, China relied on coal for nearly 60 percent of its electricity last year.

China's top climate centre announced at the weekend that 2023 has seen a record number of high-temperature days over a six-month period.The United Nations has warned it is near-certain that 2023-2027 will be the warmest five-year period ever recorded.