^{Claire Nullis gives the World Meteorological Organization's view}

At the UN climate change talks in Madrid there was a sense of urgency for countries to undertake more efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Otherwise, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns, the planet will witness a temperature rise of 3-5 degrees Celsius (37-41 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century.

But while officials from almost 200 countries scrambled to reach an agreement, Claire Nullis of the World Meteorological Organization warned that, as she put it, "polar ice doesn't wait for negotiations at COP, it melts.”

She said that more and more countries had experienced the effects of climate change in recent years, as the planet continues to heat up, warning that since the 1980s, each decade has been warmer than the previous one.

There were concerns as the official end time of the summit approached on Friday that key issues at COP25 might be postponed for another year.

With the prospect of overtime looming, negotiators were pouring over revised drafts, aiming to salvage a presentable deal on international carbon markets and aid for poor countries affected by climate change.

While agreeing new, tougher emissions targets for meeting the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord wasn't officially on the agenda in Madrid, observers say a strong signal of ambition would help rally nations ahead of the deadline for doing so next year.

Scientists say big cuts to global emissions have to start next year if the 2015 Paris agreement's goal of keeping global warming at 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) - but ideally 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century - is to be achieved.