The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has issued one of its most urgent warnings to date, stating that the Earth’s climate system is more imbalanced now than at any other time in the history of modern observation. WMO's latest State of the Global Climate report, released on Monday, paints a stark picture of a planet that is accumulating heat at an unprecedented rate due to record levels of greenhouse gases, resulting in increasingly severe consequences.
In a video address to mark the report's release, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, described the findings bluntly, stating that the global climate is in a "state of emergency."
“Planet Earth is being pushed beyond its limits. Every key climate indicator is flashing red,” he said, noting that this was “the clear message” of the latest WMO report.
“The report confirms that the Earth’s energy imbalance – the gap between heat absorbed and heat released – is the highest on record,” the UN chief added.
Record-high greenhouse gas concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere continue to break heat records on land and sea, with long-lasting consequences for humanity. According to the report, the Earth’s climate is “more out of balance than at any time in observed history.”
“Between 2015 and 2025, we experienced the hottest 11 years on record,” WMO’s Deputy Executive Secretary Ko Barrett told reporters in Geneva.
The year 2025 itself was some 1.43 degrees Celsius above the 1850 to 1900 baseline, she said, in addition to breaking an ocean heat record.
Providing a bleak overview of the state of the climate in 2025, Barrett emphasized that, as glaciers continue to retreat and ice continues to melt, “the warming ocean and melting land-based ice are driving the long-term rise in global mean sea level rise.”
She said that the findings are an inspiration “to work harder to get life-saving forecasts and early warnings into the hands of those who can protect lives and livelihoods” so that they can mitigate the devastating impacts of the ongoing climate turmoil on the most vulnerable.
Beyond environmental indicators, the report highlights the profound human consequences of a warming world. Extreme weather events, including floods, prolonged droughts, powerful storms and heatwaves, are becoming more frequent and severe, affecting millions of people and causing billions of dollars' worth of economic damage each year.
With nearly 11 percent of the global population living in low-lying areas exposed to rising seas and storm surges, coastal communities are particularly vulnerable. Meanwhile, over three billion people depend on marine and coastal resources for their livelihoods, which puts them at greater risk as ocean conditions worsen.
The climate crisis refers to the current state of environmental degradation and the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, tropical cyclones, and wildfires. This crisis is primarily caused by human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
The climate crisis is deepening ongoing humanitarian emergencies and creating new ones. In regions already affected by conflict, poverty, and food insecurity, climate stressors are exacerbating instability and intensifying needs.
Scarcity of water and arable land, driven by extreme weather, is increasingly linked to displacement and, in many cases, conflict. These impacts disproportionately affect the world’s most vulnerable populations—those who have contributed least to global greenhouse gas emissions.
Guterres stressed that WMO’s findings are “not confined to charts and graphs”.
“They are written into the daily lives of people. In families struggling as droughts and storms drive up food prices; In workers pushed to the brink by extreme heat; In farmers watching crops wither; In communities and homes swept away by floods,” he said.
WMO has been issuing annual climate updates for more than 30 years, and the record figures in the last decade have been an increasing cause for concern.
The agency’s scientific officer John Kennedy said that concentrations in the atmosphere of three key greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide reached record levels in 2024 – the last year for which there are consolidated global numbers, which also marked the single-largest year-on-year increase.
“Data from individual sites around the world indicates that levels of these greenhouse gases continue to increase in 2025” and to modify “the energy balance of the planet,” he added.
At the core of the report is a relatively new but critical metric: Earth’s energy imbalance. This refers to the difference between the amount of solar energy the planet absorbs and the amount it radiates back into space.
Kennedy explained that under a balanced system, incoming energy from the sun is about the same as the amount of outgoing energy – but this is not the case at present.
“There's less outgoing energy due to the increased concentrations of greenhouse gases […] More energy coming in than going out means that energy is accumulating in the Earth's system,” he said.
“The largest fraction of that absorbed energy is going to the oceans – around 90 per cent of the excess energy in the climate system,” Kennedy said.
“This matters because over three billion people depend on these marine and coastal resources for their livelihoods. They're living off the ocean, and nearly 11 per cent of the global population live on low-lying coasts directly exposed to coastal hazards.”
Despite the gravity of its findings, WMO frames the report as both a warning and a call to action. Barrett noted that the data should serve as motivation to strengthen early warning systems and improve access to climate information, particularly in regions most at risk.
Such measures are seen as essential for reducing loss of life and protecting livelihoods in the face of escalating climate hazards.
Guterres, meanwhile, stressed the urgent need for a rapid and equitable transition away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy.
“And in this age of war, climate stress is also exposing another truth: our addiction to fossil fuels is destabilizing both the climate and global security,” he said.
“Now more than ever, we must accelerate a just transition to renewable energy. Renewables deliver climate security, energy security and national security.”
The report closes with a clear and sobering message: The pace of climate change is accelerating, and the indicators are unequivocal. Meanwhile, the window for effective action is narrowing.
“When history repeats itself eleven times, it is no longer a coincidence,” Guterres said. “It is a call to act.”
Without immediate and coordinated global efforts to reduce emissions, adapt to changing conditions, and invest in sustainable solutions, the consequences will become increasingly severe and irreversible.
“Today’s report should come with a warning label: climate chaos is accelerating and delay is deadly. The way ahead must be grounded in science, common sense, and the courage to act,” Guterres concluded.
Further information
Full text: State of the Global Climate 2025, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), report, released March 23, 2026
https://library.wmo.int/records/item/69807-state-of-the-global-climate-2025