The global climate 2011-2015: Hottest five-year period on record.
The Global Climate 2011-2015 also examines whether human-induced climate change was directly linked to individual extreme events.
"The effects of climate change have been consistently visible on the global scale since the 1980s: rising global temperature, both over land and in the ocean; sea-level rise; and the widespread melting of ice.
It has increased the risks of extreme events such as heatwaves, drought, record rainfall and damaging floods," said Mr Taalas.
Temperatures for the period were 0.57 °C (1.03 °F) above the average for the standard 1961-1990 reference period.
The year 2015 was also the first year in which global temperatures were more than 1 °C above the pre-industrial era.
Global ocean temperatures were also at unprecedented levels.
Averaged over 2011-2015, the mean Arctic sea-ice extent in September was 4.70 million km2, 28% below the 1981-2010 average.
Climate change and extreme weather Many individual extreme weather and climate events recorded during 2011-2015 were made more likely as a result of human-induced (anthropogenic) climate change.
However, in the case of the extreme rainfall in the United Kingdom in December 2015, it was found that climate change had made such an event about 40% more likely.