Climate going beyond limits the United Nations is warning, as the Earth’s climate is further out of balance than at any time in recorded history, the UN’s weather agency warned recently.
The World Meteorological Organisation says that our planet is gaining much more heat energy than it can release, driven by emissions of warming gases such as carbon dioxide.The UN body says that this record “energy imbalance” heated the ocean to new heights last year and continued to melt our planet’s ice caps. Scientists fear that a natural warming phase called El Niño – expected to begin later this year – could soon bring further heat records.
Responding, UN Secretary General António Guterres reiterated his call for countries to move away from fossil fuels to renewable energy to “deliver climate security, energy security and national security”.”Planet Earth is being pushed beyond its limits. Every key climate indicator is flashing red,” he warned, in a typically punchy video address.
In 2025, global average air temperatures were about 1.43C above those of “pre-industrial” times – before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels. Friends of the Earth policy head Mike Childs said: “this is yet another stark warning that our planet is heating to dangerous levels, putting people and nature at serious risk…Our dependence on fossil fuels is driving instability, conflict, soaring energy bills and the climate crisis itself. Millions are already paying the price through devastating heatwaves, floods and storms…The solutions are clear: better energy efficiency and unleashing the world’s abundant renewable power. What’s missing isn’t technology – it’s the political will to act.”
Meanwhile The Guardian reports that the US Israeli war against Iran is a climate disaster as an analysis shared exclusively with the paper finds it is draining the global carbon budget faster than 84 countries combined with the conflict leading to 5m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in its first 14 days. “Every missile strike is another down-payment on a hotter, more unstable planet, and none of it makes anyone safer,” said Patrick Bigger, a research director at the Climate and Community Institute and a co-author of the analysis.