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By Dominique Schroeder

Diplomats from 196 nations gather from Monday for 12-day UN climate talks tasked with charting a path for capping global warming at “well below” two degree Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial era levels.
Here are some key climate measures from 2015 and 2016 which suggest why that may be difficult:

+2.8C (5.0F)

Earth is on track for a third successive year of highest-ever average surface temperatures since records began in 1880.

Each of the first eight months of 2016 were the hottest ever registered (with September the second hottest). September was nearly 1C (1.8F) above the 20th century average for that month.

For the first time ever, the average temperature in 2015 was a full degree Celsius above the pre-industrial era benchmark used by the UN climate science panel and in UN talks.

In the Arctic, land surface temperature in 2015 matched the record years of 2007…