Triple-whammy of hottest ever years risks ‘irreversible damage’, says UN | Climate crisis
The triple whammy of the hottest years on record threatens “irreversible damage”, the UN has warned as the world’s nations prepare to meet at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil.
This year is on track to be the second or third hottest year on record, in records dating back 176 years, the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said. This means that 2023, 2024 and 2025 will be the three hottest years on record, demonstrating that the world is now plunged into climate crisis.
The last 11 years, since 2015, will also be the 11 warmest years on record.
The WMO said limiting global warming to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels was now virtually impossible, echoing UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which both said last week that the target was now unachievable.
“The series of unprecedented high temperatures, combined with last year’s record increase in greenhouse gas levels, makes it clear that it will be virtually impossible to limit global warming to 1.5°C over the next few years without temporarily exceeding this target,” said Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General.
“But the science is equally clear that it is still entirely possible and essential to reduce temperatures to 1.5°C by the end of the century,” she said. This would require sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, growing new forests and using technology to remove and bury the CO2.
“Every year above 1.5°C will disrupt economies, widen inequalities and inflict irreversible damage,” Guterres said. “We must act now, at high speed and at scale, to make the overshoot as small, as short and as safe as possible – and bring temperatures below 1.5°C before the end of the century. » Scientists fear that exceeding the target could trigger climate tipping points and cause catastrophic damage.
Despite the accelerated deployment of renewable energy and electric vehicles, the world’s nations are far from taking the steps needed to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels.
The WMO reported in October that atmospheric CO2 levels had climbed from a record high in 2024 to reach a new high. Scientists fear that natural land and ocean sinks that remove CO2 from the air are weakening due to global warming, which could form a vicious cycle and cause temperatures to rise even faster.
A natural El Niño event in 2023 and 2024 has increased global warming, but the climate system has now shifted to neutral/La Niña conditions in 2025, reducing global temperatures somewhat. The UNEP report says the upcoming US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement will cause global warming to increase by 0.1°C over the coming decades.
The WMO report said the water year, through October 2024, saw the largest loss of glacier ice on record since 1950. The year saw 450 billion tonnes of ice lost, causing sea levels to rise.
Extreme weather is made more intense and more frequent by the climate crisis, meaning early warning systems are more essential than ever to protect lives. The WMO said the number of countries with multi-hazard early warning systems has more than doubled since 2015, from 56 to 119 in 2024. However, 40% of countries still lack systems, the agency said, and urgent action is needed to meet the UN goal of universal coverage by 2027.
