Overview
- The UN’s weather agency, which released its State of the Global Climate on Monday, March 23, 2026, confirmed 2015–2025 as the hottest 11-year span on record and placed 2025 as the second or third warmest at about 1.43°C above pre-industrial levels.
- For the first time the report tracks Earth’s energy imbalance, a measure of how much more solar energy the planet keeps than it loses, and it found this imbalance hit an all-time high in 2025.
- The oceans absorbed about 91% of the excess heat and set another record for ocean heat content in 2025, a shift that fuels stronger storms, widespread marine heatwaves, and faster ice melt.
- Levels of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide reached modern records and are disrupting the planet’s energy balance, which the WMO links to accelerating ice loss and a faster rise in global sea level since 1993.
- Extreme weather in 2025, including heatwaves, floods, wildfires and tropical cyclones, caused thousands of deaths and heavy economic losses, with UN officials warning that many climate impacts will persist for centuries.