UN issues new climate warning as El Niño looms

The Earth’s climate is more out of balance than at any time in history, the UN weather agency has warned.

The World Meteorological Organization says our planet gains far more thermal energy than it can release, due to emissions of warming gases such as carbon dioxide.

This record “energy imbalance” warmed the ocean to new heights last year and continued to melt our planet’s ice caps.

And scientists fear that a natural warming phase called El Niño – expected to begin later this year – could soon bring new heat records.

In response to the report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call for countries to abandon fossil fuels in favor of renewable energy in order to “ensure climate security, energy security and national security”.

“Planet Earth is being pushed beyond its limits. All key climate indicators are flashing red,” he warned in a typically powerful video address.

The past 11 years have been Earth’s 11 hottest years since 1850, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

In 2025, global average air temperatures were about 1.43°C warmer than in “pre-industrial” times, before humans began burning large amounts of fossil fuels.

But last year was one of the three warmest years since records began. Many scientists now believe warming is accelerating, although they say temperatures are well within the range of long-term predictions.

And the WMO points to a wealth of other evidence that the climate is changing faster than ever before.

Perhaps the most comprehensive measure is the amount of additional thermal energy absorbed by the Earth.

This “energy imbalance” is driving climate change and reached a new peak last year, according to the WMO.

Some of the extra energy trapped by these gases warms the atmosphere and the earth, and melts the planet’s ice.

The world’s glaciers experienced one of their worst five years on record in 2024/25, provisional data shows, while sea ​​ice at both poles was at or near record levels through most of 2025.

But more than 90 percent of Earth’s extra energy heats the oceans, which in turn harms marine life, causes more intense storms and contributes to sea level rise.

Heat stored in the upper 2 kilometers of the global ocean reached a new record last year, according to the WMO. Over the past two decades, global warming has been twice as rapid as at the end of the 20th century.

“Human activities are increasingly disrupting the natural balance and we will live with these consequences for hundreds and thousands of years,” said Professor Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General.

The report highlights the impacts of rising temperatures today, which are helping to intensify many types of extreme weather conditions and contribute to the spread of diseases such as dengue fever.

A rapid analysis carried out Friday by scientists from the World Weather Attribution group found that the intensity of the heat would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.

Researchers are also closely monitoring the Pacific Ocean, with long-term forecasts strongly suggesting that warming El Niño phase could form in the second half of 2026.

An El Niño phenomenon – adding to the human-caused warming trend – could push temperatures to new highs until 2027.

“If we transition to El Niño, we will see a further rise in global temperature, and potentially new records,” said WMO’s Dr John Kennedy.