The Earth’s climate is more out of balance than at any time in observed history by World Meteorological Organization (WMO)   23 Mar. 2026   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 Organization (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.   WMO’s State of the Global Climate report 2025 confirms that 2015-2025 are the hottest 11-years on record, and that 2025 was the second or third hottest year on record, at about 1.43 °C above the 1850-1900 average.   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 State of the Global Climate is in a state of emergency. Planet Earth is being pushed beyond its limits. Every key climate indicator is flashing red,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.   “Humanity has just endured the eleven hottest years on record. When history repeats itself eleven times, it is no longer a coincidence. It is a call to act,” said Mr Guterres.   Ko Barrett, Deputy Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization:   “Our report confirms that 2025 was among the hottest years ever recorded, about 1.43 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline, and part of an unprecedented streak where the past eleven years have all ranked as the warmest on record. What is particularly concerning is that this warming is not just reflected in temperatures but across the entire climate system. We are seeing glaciers continue to retreat, oceans warming at record levels, and sea levels rising as a result of both thermal expansion and melting ice.   At the same time, extreme events such as heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and tropical cyclones are affecting virtually every continent, showing how societies are already experiencing the impacts of climate change in real time.”   For the first time, the report includes the Earth’s energy imbalance as one of the key climate indicators.   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.   “Scientific advances have improved our understanding of the Earth’s energy imbalance and of the reality facing our planet and our climate right now,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. “Human activities are increasingly disrupting the natural equilibrium and we will live with these consequences for hundreds and thousands of years.”   “On a day-to-day basis, our weather has become more extreme. In 2025, heatwaves, wildfires, drought, tropical cyclones, storms and flooding caused thousands of deaths, impacted millions of people and caused billions in economic losses,” said Celeste Saulo.   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.   The past eleven years, 2015–2025, were the eleven warmest years on record.   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. 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.   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. Over the past nine years, each year has set a new record for ocean heat content.   Climate change has wide-ranging impacts on mortality, livelihoods, ecosystems and health systems and amplifies risks such as vector- and water-borne diseases, especially among vulnerable populations.   Dengue stands out as the world’s fastest-growing mosquito-borne disease. According to the World Health Organization, about half the world’s population is at risk and reported case 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.   A supplement to the report provides a snapshot of extreme events, based on inputs from WMO Members, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), focusing on the meteorological aspects and the impacts related to displacement and food security.   Extreme weather has cascading impacts on agricultural production. Climate-driven food insecurity is now seen as a risk, with cascading effects on social stability, migration and biosecurity through the spread of plant pests and animal diseases.   It also continues to drive new, onward and protracted displacement of people globally, with particularly severe consequences in fragile and conflict-affected regions.   The cascading and compounding impacts of multiple disasters severely limit the ability of vulnerable communities to prepare for, recover from and adapt to shocks.   http://wmo.int/news/media-centre/earths-climate-swings-increasingly-out-of-balance http://wmo.int/publication-series/state-of-global-climate/state-of-global-climate-2025 http://www.unognewsroom.org/story/en/3060/wmo-presser-state-of-the-global-climate-2025-report/9190 http://www.ipsnews.net/2026/03/world-heating-faster-than-expected-scientists-sound-alarm-in-latest-un-report/ Visit the related web page
	Air pollution is driving widespread human rights violations by UN Office for Human Rights   Mar. 2026   UN experts urge states to support UN General Assembly resolution operationalising ICJ Advisory Opinion on climate obligations   All states must support a UN General Assembly resolution upholding the 2025 Advisory Opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on climate change obligations, UN experts said today, expressing concern about attempts to block discussion of the proposal.   “The timing of the United Nations General Assembly resolution is critical,” the experts said, as the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu leads negotiations on the resolution during the second half of May.   The proposal comes amidst new data indicating that the 1.5°C limit on global temperature rise under the Paris Agreement could be exceeded as early as May 2029, and recent cyclones, hurricanes, forest fires and floods across Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Africa have already caused severe human rights impacts and losses.   “The Advisory Opinion was unanimous in response to a consensus request from the General Assembly,” they recalled. “The Opinion is based on a range of international legally binding sources of international law on how to effectively prevent further climate harm and its devastating impacts on lives, societies and economies.”   “We are gravely concerned about attempts to block the resolution from being considered at the UNGA,” the experts said. “States must comply with their obligations to cooperate in the effective protection of the environment, the climate system and human rights.”   “There is a disturbing pattern of growing obstruction across UN processes against explicit references to fossil fuels and the ICJ Advisory Opinion, including at the Human Rights Council,” they warned.   They noted that States at the UN Climate Conference of November 2025 (COP30) were unable to uphold the legal and scientific standards clarified by the ICJ, or agree on meaningful outcomes on climate mitigation.   “States must not delay “difficult” conversations,” the experts said, calling on countries to step up efforts to find inclusive, meaningful ways to comply with international obligations and effectively protect people from inter-linked planetary crises, growing economic inequality and armed aggression connected with the fossil fuel-based economy.   “We applaud over 80 States from different regions that pointed out the problematic dynamics at COP30 and launched a separate multilateral conference to advance concrete and fair action to transition away from fossil fuels, under the leadership of Colombia and the Netherlands.”   The draft resolution could support a collaborative and inclusive approach to fulfilling States’ obligations to legislate on the fossil fuel phase-out, remove fossil fuel subsidies, document climate harm and respond to reparation claims, the experts said. These efforts could complement the Paris Agreement’s Loss and Damage Fund, which remains severely underfunded and in need of reform to support affected communities.   “Instead of resorting to adversarial measures, States must see this resolution as something that will benefit them all, through mutual learning and international cooperation on the climate crisis that is spreading across all continents,” they said.   The experts recalled that reparations identified by the ICJ overlap with States’ pre-existing obligations to prevent environmental and human rights harm, conserve and restore ecosystems, and fund effective environmental action in countries most affected by climate change and least responsible for it.   “A General Assembly resolution will set the direction for multilateral action towards the effective protection of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, including a safe climate, as a precondition for peace and the enjoyment of all human rights by present and future generations,” they said.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/03/un-experts-urge-states-support-general-assembly-resolution-operationalising http://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/-/climate-action-and-accountability-for-survival http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/03/16/governments-should-support-vanuatus-un-climate-resolution http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/02/global-governments-must-use-new-un-general-assembly-resolution-to-turn-icjs-advisory-opinion-on-climate-change-into-robust-action   Mar. 2026   Air pollution is driving widespread human rights violations   The Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, Astrid Puentes Riano, called on States, entities and businesses to address the dual public health and human rights crisis of air pollution.   “Continued inaction on air pollution is a systemic failure,” Puentes Riano said. “Under international law, States are required to act on the evidence they have.”   In a new report presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the expert highlighted priority actions centering on human rights to advance clean air, and to protect public health and the right to a healthy environment.   “Despite clean air being vital and a substantive element of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, most of the global population do not breathe healthy air due to insufficient health and environmental protections, and because economic growth and industrial activities are too often prioritised over human rights.”   According to the World Health Organisation, air pollution is linked to approximately 6-8 million premature deaths worldwide each year, and is associated with 83% of noncommunicable diseases, including heart disease, stroke, cancer and chronic respiratory illnesses. Evidence shows that air pollution affects every organ of the human body and contributes to long-term disability and reduced quality of life.   These impacts are not shared equally. Children, women, the elderly, pregnant people, outdoor workers and those with pre-existing health conditions face disproportionately high exposure and risk levels, often with no choice.   “Where exposure is shaped by immutable factors, air pollution increases inequality and discrimination” the expert said. “The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment cannot be realised where entire communities have no choice but to breathe unclean air.”   The report notes that under international human rights law, States have clear obligations to prevent foreseeable harm, regulate and monitor polluting activities, ensure access to information and to protect populations at heightened risk.   The Special Rapporteur also highlighted the responsibilities of businesses to avoid causing or contributing to air pollution, conduct robust human rights and environmental due diligence, protect workers’ health and reduce emissions in line with scientific standards.   The report makes several recommendations for States, cities, subnational governments, business and international organisations, including ensuring integrated air quality, human rights and climate change planning, identifying air pollution hotspots and prioritising interventions to protect vulnerable populations.   “Air pollution is not merely an environmental concern, it is a critical issue that is already costing millions of lives and trillions of dollars in economic loss. But it doesn’t have to be this way,” the expert said.   “Protecting people from air pollution is not only possible – it is required. Clean air is a fundamental human right, not a privilege.”   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/03/air-pollution-driving-widespread-human-rights-violations-un-expert http://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/61/47 http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-environment/annual-thematic-reports   24 Feb. 2026   Ocean governance must be grounded in international law   UN experts today urged States to ensure that any new regulations governing the deep seabed, including a code on mining, are firmly grounded in international law, including international human rights law, and implement the precautionary principle.   “The deep seabed is not an industrial frontier, it is one of the most fragile and least understood ecosystems on Earth, and its protection is a legal obligation under international law and human rights law,” the experts said, ahead of the 31st session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA). “Any regulatory framework must reflect States’ binding obligation to protect the environment and the climate system and prevent human rights and environmental harm.”   The UN experts recalled recent Advisory Opinions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) which clarify obligations to protect the ocean and the climate system. Under customary international law, States have obligations to protect the marine environment and the climate system that are owed to the international community as a whole – obligations that require stringent due diligence.   The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, which recently came into force, strengthens this legal framework. All these international obligations must be considered and respected by the International Seabed Authority.   The experts also reminded that businesses have obligations and responsibilities with respect to the protection of the environment and the climate system, and their impacts on human rights, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.   “The deep seabed hosts most of the ocean’s estimated one million species, sustains global biodiversity, and constitutes the planet’s largest carbon sink, thus being critical for climate regulation,” the experts said.   They warned that deep-sea mining linked with the rush to critical minerals poses serious environmental, climate and human rights risks. Scientific research increasingly suggests that such mining could cause severe and potentially irreversible damage to marine biodiversity, disperse toxic pollutants, destroy seafloor habitats, release stored carbon, and disrupt ocean carbon sequestration processes.   In addition, mining operations are highly energy-intensive and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions which aggravate the climate crisis and its adverse human rights impacts.   “Courts have concluded that the precautionary principle must be respected when there is scientific uncertainty about how to effectively prevent significant or irreversible harm to the environment and to human health of present and future generations, as in the case of deep-sea bed mining” the experts said.   Indigenous Peoples, small-scale fishers, and Small Island Developing States rely heavily on healthy marine ecosystems for food security, livelihoods and culture, which increases their vulnerability to potential impacts.   “Threats to the deep sea are threats to human rights,” the experts said. “Indigenous Peoples, small-scale fishers and coastal communities all depend on a healthy ocean to survive. Their enjoyment of their human rights is at stake- including rights to food, to health, and to a healthy environment, including a safe climate and healthy ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as cultural rights.”   They stressed that deep-seabed governance must be transparent, inclusive, participatory, science-based, and oriented toward protecting the human rights of both present and future generations.   “Marine activities that pose significant risks for humanity must not be authorised,” the experts said. “The deep seabed is the common heritage of humankind, thus governance must consistently protect it,” they said.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/ocean-governance-must-be-grounded-international-law-un-experts http://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/58/59
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