Latest Climate Report Documents 11 Consecutive Record Hot Years and Mounting Impacts

The world has just experienced 11 consecutive hottest years on record, with 2025 among the warmest ever observed and atmospheric CO2 now approximately 50 per cent above pre-industrial levels, according to the latest World Meteorological Organization climate state report. Scientists warn that urgent emissions cuts are needed to avoid locking in worse impacts, while noting that transformation is still possible.

The latest annual climate state assessment from the World Meteorological Organization documents 11 consecutive years of record or near-record global temperatures, with 2025 ranking as the second warmest year ever observed. Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are now approximately 50 per cent higher than pre-industrial levels, representing the highest concentrations in human history. Oceans are warming and acidifying at record rates, accelerating sea-level rise and disrupting marine food webs on which billions of people depend for nutrition and livelihoods.

Arctic and Antarctic sea ice continue to decline, with measurements at near-record lows in both hemispheres during 2025. Extreme weather events — heatwaves, floods, droughts, intense tropical cyclones — are intensifying in frequency and severity under human-driven climate change. For India, which experienced record heatwave conditions in 2024, above-normal ocean temperatures affecting monsoon patterns and a succession of extreme rainfall events, the report's findings align with the country's own observed climate trends over the past decade.

Despite the grim assessment, the report's authors emphasise that meaningful climate action remains possible and that the difference between 1.5C and 2C or higher of warming has enormous practical consequences for human welfare and ecosystem preservation. Clean energy deployment, which has accelerated dramatically in recent years, provides a technological basis for hope. The report is expected to strengthen the scientific case for ambitious national commitments ahead of the next global climate stocktake, with particular pressure on major emitters to update their NDCs.

Key figure — 50% above pre-industrial levels — current atmospheric CO2 concentration