Climate alert and alliances
The UN weather agency warned of a record “climate imbalance,” saying planetary warming is accelerating faster than at any time in observed history. (un.org) In response, the EU and Japan announced a deepened alliance to accelerate net-zero targets and strengthen energy security, even as India’s updated NDCs emphasize reducing emissions intensity rather than absolute cuts. ( ) Activists are also pushing COP31 to put military emissions and defense spending on the agenda, arguing conflicts are worsening data opacity and complicating the energy transition. (scmp.com)
WMO’s State of the Global Climate 2025 finds the years 2015–2025 were the hottest 11-year period on record and places 2025 at roughly 1.43°C above the 1850–1900 baseline. (wmo.int) The WMO report also says Earth’s energy imbalance reached its highest level in a 65‑year record and that the ocean has absorbed roughly the equivalent of 18 times annual human energy use each year over the past two decades. (wmo.int) At a High‑Level Dialogue in Brussels on March 25, 2026, EU and Japanese officials agreed to deepen cooperation across policy, finance and industrial decarbonisation and to coordinate delivery of Nationally Determined Contributions ahead of COP31. (climate.ec.europa.eu) Both sides tied the strengthened partnership explicitly to energy security in the wake of tensions in the Gulf and signalled joint work on carbon markets, sustainable finance and industrial decarbonisation. (brusselstimes.com) India’s cabinet approved a pledge to cut emissions intensity by 47% from 2005 levels by 2035 and to expand the share of clean power capacity to about 60% within the next decade, officials said. (sg.news.yahoo.com) Market and policy analysts, including Bloomberg, described India’s updated targets as modest or conservative, noting that emissions intensity cuts do not prevent absolute emissions from rising with sustained GDP growth. (bloomberg.com) Activists are urging COP31 in Antalya to put military emissions and defence spending on the agenda, arguing that conflicts and limited transparency around armed forces’ fuel use undermine the energy transition; researchers and NGOs warn rising military spending is already jeopardising climate targets. (scmp.com)
