Consistent evidence has proved that the entire climate system is continuing to heat up, driving rapid temperature increases, while human activities have pushed global warming to 1.37°C in 2025; its level is projected to surpass 1.5°C in the next four years.

Essentially, the rate at which heat is accumulating in the Earth system suggests high levels of future warming, according to key findings from the Global Climate Change (IGCC) 2026 report, published in the Earth System Science Data.

According to this year’s update, global GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions are at an all-time high, reaching 56.8 billion tonnes (gigatonnes or Gt) of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2e) in 2024, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels.

Other findings show that 2025 was the third warmest year on record, consistent with the level of human-caused warming the world has experienced, and that natural variability in the climate system had a limited effect on global mean temperatures last year.

Despite GHG emissions not increasing as rapidly as in the 2000s, this year’s findings continue to show how far and how fast the climate is changing due to human activity, highlighting the need for society to massively increase decarbonisation efforts during this critical decade.

The report said preserving and maintaining the global datasets that are crucial for providing the most up-to-date, accurate, comprehensive information for evidence-based decision-making will meanwhile be critical to our ability to detect these changes in the future.

The study established that rapid warming over the last few decades has resulted in record extreme temperatures over land wilt land average maximum temperatures for any single day in a year reaching 1.92°C over the last decade (2016-2025), an increase of 0.49°C compared to 2006-2015.

Strategic Lead for Climate in the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) at ECMWF, Dr Samantha Burgess, said: “Our study demonstrates that nearly all of the warming over the last decade is driven by human activities. The impacts on livelihoods and ecosystems are already being felt worldwide, and will accelerate as temperatures continue to increase.”

Senior Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Dr Chris Smith, said: “This year’s edition of IGCC has involved over 40 global datasets, many of which are now threatened by funding decisions. We need concerted international action and coordination to ensure the continuity of observations of the climate. Without this, future assessments will be much more difficult at a time when urgent climate action is needed.”