The World Meteorological Organization said on March 23, 2026, that Earth’s climate is increasingly out of balance, with the highest energy imbalance in the 65-year observational record. The warning comes from its State of the Global Climate 2025 report, which says greenhouse gases are still rising, the last 11 years were the hottest on record, and the impacts are intensifying across oceans, weather, food, health, and economies.

Bullets

• WMO said Earth’s energy imbalance is now the highest in the 65-year observational record.
• The years 2015 to 2025 were the hottest 11-year period ever recorded globally.
• WMO said 2025 was the second or third hottest year on record, about 1.43 degrees Celsius above the 1850–1900 average.
• Carbon dioxide reached levels not seen in around 2 million years, according to reporting on the new WMO findings.
• Methane and nitrous oxide concentrations were reported at their highest in at least 800,000 years.
• Oceans are absorbing most of the trapped heat, with WMO saying they have taken in about 18 times annual human energy use each year for two decades.
• The report links the worsening imbalance to human activity, especially greenhouse gas emissions that intensify heat, rainfall extremes, and other disruptions.
• WMO and the UN warned that the impacts are already hitting health, food security, displacement, and economic systems worldwide.
• UN Secretary-General António Guterres said every key climate indicator is “flashing red,” calling the situation a global climate emergency.