OSLO - The speed and scale of the global energy transition must increase in order to reach the ambition of limiting the rise in global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, analysts at Norwegian oil and gas group Equinor said on Thursday.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Wednesday said there is now an 80% chance that at least one of the next five years will mark the first calendar year with an average temperature that temporarily exceeds 1.5C above pre-industrial levels - up from a 66% chance last year.

While some regions have made an adamant push to reduce carbon emissions through stimulus and regulation, this has in many cases been offset by increased levels of geopolitical conflict and war, Equinor's analysts said.

"The global development over the past few years has made the challenges of delivering on the 1.5°C ambition larger," Equinor Chief Economist Eirik Waerness said in a statement.

While longer-term signals still clearly point in the direction of significant energy transition and decarbonisation, the speed of progress towards 2050 has become more uncertain, he added.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; editing by Jason Neely and Stephen Coates)