Earth climate reaches unprecedented imbalance, warns WMO report

Monday 23 March 2026 - 08:20

By: Dakir Madiha

Earth climate reaches unprecedented imbalance, warns WMO report

The Earth’s climate has entered an unprecedented state of imbalance, the World Meteorological Organization said in its annual State of the Global Climate report released on World Meteorological Day.

The report confirms that the period from 2015 to 2025 marks the warmest decade on record. The year 2025 ranked among the two or three hottest years ever measured, with global temperatures about 1.43 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels from 1850 to 1900. For the first time, the WMO included Earth’s energy imbalance as a key climate indicator, showing the gap between incoming solar radiation and outgoing heat. This imbalance reached its highest level in 65 years of observations.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the global climate is now in a state of emergency, with all major indicators pointing to worsening conditions. He warned that repeated temperature records signal a clear pattern requiring urgent action.

The oceans continue to absorb the vast majority of excess heat caused by rising greenhouse gas concentrations. More than 90 percent of this heat is stored in ocean waters, which reached a new record for heat content in 2025. According to the WMO, the ocean absorbs energy equivalent to roughly 18 times total annual human energy consumption each year, and the rate of ocean warming has more than doubled between 1960 to 2005 and 2005 to 2025.

Greenhouse gas concentrations also reached new highs. Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide levels hit record levels in 2024, the latest year with consolidated global data, marking the largest annual increase on record. Preliminary data from monitoring stations shows levels continued to rise throughout 2025.

Polar ice and glaciers are undergoing sustained decline. Arctic sea ice extent reached or approached record lows in 2025, while Antarctic sea ice ranked among the three lowest levels ever recorded. Ongoing glacier melt and rising ocean temperatures are accelerating sea level rise, a trend that has intensified since satellite measurements began in 1993.

Extreme weather events intensified in 2025, including heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, storms and floods. These events caused thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in economic losses. WMO officials warned that human activity is increasingly disrupting natural systems and that the consequences will persist for centuries.