- World
- Mar 24
WMO warns of record ‘climate imbalance’ as planetary warming accelerates
• The Earth’s climate is more out of balance than at any time in observed history, as greenhouse gas concentrations drive continued warming of the atmosphere and ocean and melting of ice, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
• These rapid and large-scale changes have occurred within a few decades but will have harmful repercussions for hundreds, and potentially thousands, of years.
• In 2025, heatwaves, wildfires, drought, tropical cyclones, storms and flooding caused thousands of deaths, impacted millions of people and caused billions in economic losses.
Highlights of State of the Global Climate 2025 report:
• Extreme events around the world, including intense heat, heavy rainfall and tropical cyclones, caused disruption and devastation and highlighted the vulnerability of our inter-connected economies and societies.
The report confirms that 2015-2025 are the hottest 11-years on record, and that 2025 was the second or third hottest year on record.
• One of the longest observational records of climate change is that of global mean near‑surface temperature.
• The annually averaged global mean near-surface temperature in 2025 was 1.43°C ± 0.13°C above the 1850-1900 average used to represent pre-industrial conditions.
• The ocean continues to warm and absorb carbon dioxide.
• It has been absorbing the equivalent of about eighteen times the annual human energy use each year for the past two decades.
• In 2025, ocean heat content (to a depth of 2,000 metres) reached the highest level since the start of records in 1960, exceeding the previous high set in 2024.
• Annual sea ice extent in the Arctic was at or near a record low, Antarctic sea ice extent was the third lowest on record, and glacier melt continued unabated, according to the report.
Earth’s energy imbalance
• The Earth’s energy imbalance is a new indicator WMO has started tracking, with results pointing to a notable acceleration in the rate at which warming has been progressing between 2001 and 2025.
• The Earth’s energy balance measures the rate at which energy enters and leaves the Earth system. Under a stable climate, incoming energy from the sun is about the same as the amount of outgoing energy.
• However, increasing concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide — to their highest level in at least 800,000 years have upset this equilibrium.
• The Earth’s energy imbalance has increased since its observational record began in 1960, particularly in the past 20 years. It reached a new high in 2025.
Warming of the atmosphere
• The warming of the atmosphere including near the Earth’s surface (the temperatures that humans feel) represents just 1 per cent of the excess energy, whilst about 5 per cent is stored in the continental land masses.
• More than 91 per cent of the excess heat is stored in the ocean, which acts as a major buffer against higher temperatures on land.
• Ocean heat content reached a new record high in 2025 and its rate of warming more than doubled from 1960-2005 to 2005-2025.
• Another 3 per cent of the excess energy warms and melts ice.
• The ice sheets on Antarctica and Greenland have both lost significant mass and the annual average Arctic sea-ice extent for 2025 was the lowest or second lowest on record in the satellite era.
• Exceptional glacier mass loss occurred in Iceland and along the Pacific coast of North America in 2025.
• The warming ocean and melting ice are driving the long-term rise in global mean sea level, which has accelerated since satellite measurements began in 1993.
• Ocean warming and sea level rise will continue for centuries, according to projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
• Changes in ocean warming, and deep ocean pH are irreversible on centennial to millennial time scales.
Greenhouse Gases
• Data from individual monitoring stations show that levels of three main greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide — continued to increase in 2025.
• In 2024 — the last year for which we have consolidated global observations — the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide reached its highest level in the last 2 million years, and methane and nitrous oxide in at least last 800,000 years.
• The increase in the annual carbon dioxide concentration (CO2) in 2024 was the largest annual increase since modern measurements began in 1957. This was driven by continued fossil CO2 emissions, and reduced effectiveness of land and ocean carbon sinks.
Climate and heat impacts on health
• Climate change has wide-ranging impacts on mortality, livelihoods, ecosystems and health systems and amplifies risks such as vector and water-borne diseases and mental health stressors, especially among vulnerable populations.
• Dengue stands out as the world’s fastest-growing mosquito-borne disease.
• According to the World Health Organisation, about half the world’s population is at risk and reported cases are currently the highest ever recorded.
• Heat stress is a growing problem. Over one-third of the global workforce (1.2 billion people) face workplace heat risk at some point each year, especially those in agriculture and construction.
• In addition to health impacts, this leads to productivity and livelihood losses.
• As of 2023, only around half of countries provide heat early warning services tailored to the needs of the health sector, and even fewer have fully integrated climate information into health decision-making processes.
• There is an urgent need to integrate meteorological and climate data with health information systems to allow decision-makers to move from reactive response towards proactive prevention which saves lives.