Presenting its latest assessment on Monday, the United Nation\u2019s weather agency said the period from 2015 to 2025 represents the hottest 11 years ever recorded.<\/p>\n
Ko Barrett, WMO Deputy Executive Secretary, said global temperatures last year were about 1.43 degrees Celsius above the pre\u2011industrial baseline of 1850 to 1900. The year also broke the record for ocean heat, underscoring the accelerating pace of climate change.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween 2015 and 2025, we experienced the hottest 11 years on record,\u201d she said. \u201cThe warming ocean and melting land\u2011based ice are driving the long\u2011term rise in global mean sea level.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Barrett said the findings highlight the urgent need to strengthen early\u2011warning systems and deliver lifesaving climate services to vulnerable communities. \u201cThese figures are an inspiration to work harder to get forecasts and warnings into the hands of those who can protect lives and livelihoods,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
John Kennedy, a Scientific Officer with WMO, said concentrations ofcarbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide reached new record levels in 2024, the last year with verified global data. \u201cIt was the single\u2011largest year\u2011on\u2011year increase,\u201d he said, adding that readings from monitoring sites suggest the upward trend continued in 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kennedy noted that the rising concentrations of heat\u2011trapping gases are shifting the planet\u2019s energy balance. Under normal conditions, the Earth emits roughly the same amount of energy as it receives from the sun. \u201cThere is now less outgoing energy due to the increased concentrations of greenhouse gases,\u201d he said. \u201cMore energy coming in than going out means that energy is accumulating in the Earth\u2019s system.\u201d<\/p>\n
WMO has begun tracking the Earth\u2019s energy imbalance as a new climate indicator, with results showing a marked acceleration between 2001 and 2025. Around 90% of excess heat is being absorbed by the oceans, a trend with profound implications for marine ecosystems and coastal communities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cOver three billion people depend on marine and coastal resources for their livelihoods,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cNearly 11% of the global population lives on low\u2011lying coasts directly exposed to coastal hazards.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":29591,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-29589","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has issued a stark warning that the planet\u2019s climate system is veering further off balance, with record\u2011high greenhouse gas concentrations driving unprecedented warming on land and at sea. ","published_date":"","news_description":"The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has issued a stark warning that the planet\u2019s climate system is veering further off balance, with record\u2011high greenhouse gas concentrations driving unprecedented warming on land and at sea. ","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29592,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29589\/revisions\/29592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=29589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}