Earth’s climate swings increasingly out of balance: WMO

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported on Monday that Earth’s energy imbalance reached a record high in 2025, marking the hottest 11-year period on record from 2015 to 2025. The findings were released on World Meteorological Day, March 23, alongside the State of the Global Climate report 2025, which analyzed greenhouse gases, temperatures, ocean heat, sea level rise, ice loss, and glacier melt.

The report confirmed that 2025 was among the warmest years ever, about 1.43 °C above pre-industrial levels. For the first time, WMO included Earth’s energy imbalance as a key indicator, showing that most of the excess energy trapped by greenhouse gases—over 91%—has been absorbed by the oceans, pushing ocean heat content to record levels. Only 1% of the excess energy warmed the atmosphere, while 3% contributed to glacier melt, including major ice loss in Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, and North America’s Pacific coast.

Rising ocean temperatures and melting ice are driving long-term sea level rise and altering deep ocean chemistry on timescales lasting centuries to millennia. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that fossil fuel dependence is destabilizing both climate and global security, emphasizing that delays in action make the consequences increasingly deadly.

Credit – CGTN