Global climate report: 2020 Estonia's hottest year for 60 years

TALLINN - 2020 was Estonia's hottest year for the past 60 years, a report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) shows.

The average air temperature was 8.4 degrees Celsius last year, 2.4 degrees higher than normal, making 2020 the hottest year since 1961, spokespeople for the Estonian Environment Agency said.

The report said that the past year was one of the three warmest years globally and the hottest year on record in Europe. The global average temperature was about 1.2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level. The past six years have likewise been the warmest on record.

The concentration of the main greenhouse gases -- carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- continued to grow despite a temporary drop in emissions in 2020 caused by anti-coronavirus restrictions. Estonia's greenhouse gas emissions continued to decline last year. The emissions have a strong link to oil shale energy, the production of which has decreased in Estonia.