Greenhouse gas levels once again reach record high by World Meteorological Organization (WMO)   27 Oct. 2026   Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other major greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached unprecedented highs in 2025, locking in more long-term temperature increase for the planet, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).   The WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin reported that the globally averaged surface concentration of CO2 in 2025 was 426.8 parts per million, or 153% of the 1750 pre-industrial baseline.   Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide - the second and third most important long-lived greenhouse gases related to human activities - also rose to a new record.   “Another year, another new record. Greenhouse gases are trapping an unprecedented amount of heat in the atmosphere, providing energy for more extreme weather and associated risks to our economies and societies. The past 11 years have been the warmest on record and this trend is set to continue. CO2 has a very long life-time and so will affect the global climate not just for years but for decades and even centuries,” said WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett.   WMO releases the Bulletin, one of its flagship annual publications, to provide authoritative scientific information for negotiators at the UN Climate conference. The COP 31 meeting in Antalya, Turkiye, from 9-20 November 2026 is seeking to turn climate commitments into concrete actions.   The Bulletin reports on greenhouse gas concentrations - namely the amount of gas that accumulates in the atmosphere - and not new annual emissions. About half of the total CO2 emitted each year remains in the atmosphere and the rest is absorbed by Earth’s land ecosystems and oceans.   The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Annual Greenhouse Gas Index shows that from 1990 to 2025, radiative forcing – the warming effect on our climate - by long-lived greenhouse gases increased by 56%, with CO2 accounting for about 81% of this increase.   Growth rates of CO2 have tripled since the 1960s, accelerating from an annual average increase of 0.8 ppm per year to 2.4 ppm per year in the decade from 2011 to 2020. From 2024 to 2025, the global average concentration of CO2 rose by 2.8 ppm – above the decadal average but slightly less than the exceptional surge of 2023/2024.   “The more modest growth rate from 2024 to 2025 reflects recovery of the land carbon sinks and reduced fire carbon emissions in 2025 after the strong 2023/2024 El Nino, which reduced the efficiency of the biosphere through more drought, drier vegetation and more wildfires,” said WMO senior scientific officer Oksana Tarasova.   “However, a 2.8 ppm annual increase is still a substantial addition of carbon to the atmosphere from fossil fuel burning. We can expect to see a further increase in concentrations in 2026 because of fossil fuel burning and the development of a powerful El Nino which will impact land carbon sinks as it did in 2023/2024. The risks of reduced CO2 uptake by the ocean are also increasing in our changing climate,” said Oksana Tarasova.   WMO Deputy Secretary-General, Ko Barrett at press conference on the release of the WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin:   "The World Meteorological Organization today releases its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin for 2025. And, once again, we are reporting that levels of long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are at record levels. The big three are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.   Since the 1960s, growth rates of CO2 have tripled.   When the Bulletin was first published in 2004, the annual level of carbon dioxide was 377.5 parts per million. In 2025, it was 426.8 parts per million. Data that we have from individual monitoring stations in WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch show that CO2 levels continue to rise in 2026.   Every additional part per million matters because it traps additional heat. In effect, we are supercharging the ocean and the atmosphere. That means that heatwaves, tropical cyclones, and rainstorms are intensifying faster than our historical baselines prepared us for".   In the U.S., Bill McGuire, Professor of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at UCL, responding to the WMO report, warned about governments reversing climate action and green measures, under pressure from fossil fuel corporations:   ‘The 1.5C limit is dead in the water, and – according to this week’s UNEP Emissions Gap report – to have a ‘good’ chance of staying this side of 1.7 – 1.8C, emissions need to fall by 45 percent within 15 years. The reality is that we continue to pump out the weight equivalent in CO2 of 800,000 Titanics every year, and emissions are still rising, so there is no chance of this happening.’   ‘We are rewinding the climate clock back millions of years to a time when the climate was much hotter, and humans had yet to appear. As governments row back on green measures, and fossil fuel corporations plan for expansion, it is clear that we are sleepwalking into a hothouse future that will challenge the very existence of our civilisation and, quite possibly, our species.’   Professor Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, responding to the WMO report:   ‘We have to transition rapidly away from fossil fuel burning. There’s simply no other way. Without regulating them and imposing an incentive structure to move toward clean energy, nothing else is really going to matter.’   Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, commented on the possibilities of positive climate action, revealed in the recent UN Emissions Gap report:   ‘The world can no longer avoid overshooting the 1.5 degree limit. And the consequences are already devastating. Deadly floods. Brutal heatwaves. Raging wildfires. Lost lives. Crippled economies. Deepening inequalities. And those least responsible are suffering first and worst.   But overshoot is not surrender. We can still keep it as small and as short as possible- and bring temperatures back below 1.5 degrees before the end of the century…   Cutting global greenhouse gas emissions by 18% by 2030 and 45% by 2035- compared with 2025 levels. That’s close to 6% every single year until 2035. Yet emissions remain at record levels. And national climate plans and current policies fall dangerously short- pointing to 2.8 degrees of warming.   We have the tools to change course and pull back from the brink…. Governments must go much further and faster. Accelerate clean energy and electrification across every sector. Adopt credible roadmaps to transition away from fossil fuels- with clear timelines and protection for affected workers and communities. Every fraction of a degree matters. Every year of delay makes the way back steeper. Let us close the gap now.’   Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research on the Emissions Gap Report:   "Global emissions cuts of 18 percent by 2030, and 45 percent by 2035 is needed to achieve the ‘lowest possible’ 1.5°C overshoot scenario, according the new edition of the United Nations Emissions Gap Report. This scenario would limit peak warming around mid-century to 1.7-1.8°C, and return warming below 1.5°C by 2100.   Full implementation of countries’ climate targets (NDCs) would only reduce emissions by 5-8 percent by 2030 and 11-15 percent by 2035, relative to 2025 levels. If similar efforts continue, warming would be limited to 2.6°C.   Even in the most optimistic scenario, where all NDCs plus additional net zero targets are achieved, global warming would only be limited to 2.1°C in this century. By contrast, current policies would lead to warming of 2.8°C this century and increase thereafter.   These outcomes are worse than last year’s projections due to the withdrawal of the United States of America from the Paris Agreement and revised estimates of historical emissions. New NDCs have barely made a difference for these projections".   http://wmo.int/news/media-centre/greenhouse-gas-levels-once-again-reach-record-high http://wmo.int/secretariat/ko-barrett/record-greenhouse-gases-trap-more-heat-future http://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1y/k1ywcvn57q http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/10/1168634 http://www.unep.org/en/news-and-stories/story/temperatures-spike-new-report-outlines-humanitys-options-containing-climate http://climatenetwork.org/2026/10/21/unep-emissions-gap-report-governments-must-act-urgently-as-world-heads-towards-1-5c-overshoot/ Visit the related web page
	Researchers call for climate change to be declared a global health emergency by Lancet Countdown on health and climate change   27 Oct. 2026 (The Lancet, agencies)   The latest global study on climate change-related health risks has found that 3 million deaths between 2016 and 2023 can be attributed to a warming planet.   The Lancet Countdown report noted some progress had been made on key climate goals that could reduce heating by 2100 from up to 3.5 degrees Celsius to 2.8C.   It found the growth of energy from renewable sources had "vastly exceeded expectations", but that global action on climate change was "grossly insufficient", and that this had already led to significant harm to human health.   For the first time the authors of the Lancet Countdown study quantified heat-related deaths directly due to human-caused climate change.   The authors estimate more than half a million deaths per year between 2016 and 2023 were linked to heat and that 68 per cent of those deaths were caused by climate change.   Developing countries had the highest proportion of heat-related deaths, which the authors found "reflected the disproportionate adverse impacts of climate change on those least responsible for it".   “These numbers point to a clear emergency,” said climate health researcher Marina Romanello, the executive director of the Lancet Countdown. “The risks become even more profound when you consider how different hazards interact and compound. At the same time, drought is spreading, and the world is swinging to water extremes, some drying out, while others are flooding.”   Study co-author and Macquarie University climate health expert Professor Paul Beggs said vulnerable people were most at risk from climate change globally, but no-one was immune.   "We know people do die from heatwaves, people die from bushfire smoke exposure and things like that," he said. "It doesn't matter where you live; climate change is already having an impact on health, and that's only going to increase."   According to recently released peer-reviewed studies, severe heat killed more than 50,000 people across Europe during this year's Northern Hemisphere summer, which was marred by rolling heatwaves and fires. The scientists attributed two-thirds of these deaths to human-caused climate change.   The Lancet report tracks 54 indicators of how climate change and efforts to tackle it affect health, but warns that wider, system-wide risks could be far greater than the individual measures suggest.   "A severe El Nino threatens to compound the impacts of climate change and trigger unprecedented climate-related humanitarian crises globally," the report states.   "Climate change has become a global health emergency. Addressing it requires urgent course correction."   The study authors note that the past 11 years had been the hottest on record, accompanied by more frequent heatwaves and droughts.   Climate change has increased the risk and intensity of droughts, which affected more than 50 per cent of global land in 2025 for at least a month.   At the same time, extreme rainfall has also increased, resulting in a higher flood and landslide risk.   The report found the world's exposure to very high or extremely high risk of wildfire had also increased.   "Globally, heat exposure caused the loss of 573 billion potential work hours in 2025, resulting in US $1.07 trillion in income losses," the report found, with low-and middle-income countries most affected.   "The rate of increase in many climate-related health threats is accelerating, while heat deaths linked to climate change have reached a record-high, and the economic toll is battering vulnerable sectors and communities the hardest," says climate health researcher Marina Romanello, executive director of The Lancet Countdown.   Physician Aditya Vyas co-authored a separate Lancet climate health report on Oceania. He said health workers had recorded a 13 per cent increase in emergency presentations during heatwaves, which he described as a "silent killer" in the community.   "The impacts are worse now than they were before, but also they're worsening, and for the next generation this is going to have a real impact on their health status," Dr Vyas said.   The Lancet authors found fossil fuels continued to supply about 80 per cent of global energy, pushing energy-related emissions to a record high in 2025.   "Unequal access to clean energy and the persistent use of polluting fuels are not only exacerbating climate change risks, but also directly harming health and increasing vulnerabilities through air pollution," the report states.   The authors also cited "vested interests", in the form of "lobbying and disinformation by fossil fuel interests and political allies", as an obstruction in the effort to transition towards clean energy. This was "countering the growing body of scientific literature on the links between health and climate change."   The authors singled out the USA for promoting fossil fuel expansion and withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.   "The growing political support for fossil fuels from the USA and other countries threatens to lock the world into a future of irreversible damage and mounting risks to health and survival."   The authors also provided a cause for hope in the form of growth in renewable energy sources and its effect on human health. They estimated that 400,000 deaths were prevented in 2023 compared to 2016 due to improved air quality from switching to cleaner energy sources. Electricity use in transport had increased by 427 per cent from 2016 to 2023 globally, the report's authors noted.   Scaling up access to off-grid renewables would prevent another 2 million deaths annually, which could be "attributable to household air pollution from solid-fuel use".   Professor Beggs said the report was an urgent call to prioritise human health over fossil fuels; "that means reducing fossil fuel emissions."   "A decade after the Paris Agreement, our findings are unambiguous: the health harms of climate change are growing faster than the world's response to them, and in many cases are accelerating," Romanello says.   "Progress has been too slow, too small, and isn't reaching those who need it most. That is why we are calling for climate change to be formally recognized as a global health emergency, with health placed at the center of every climate decision."   http://lancetcountdown.org/2026-report/ http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01779-4/abstract http://www.sciencealert.com/heat-deaths-reach-record-high-146-experts-call-to-declare-climate-change-a-global-health-emergency http://insideclimatenews.org/news/27102026/lagging-global-climate-action-health-harms http://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-28/lancet-study-counts-three-million-climate-change-related-deaths/107315006 http://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/countries-need-to-establish-structures-to-turn-climate-health-goals-into-impact/ Visit the related web page
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