Planet’s Hottest Decade
The World Meteorological Organization says 2015–2025 is the hottest 11-year period on record, with 2025 trapping more heat than any previous year — scientists warn key indicators are “flashing red.” (businessgreen.com) The climate emergency is colliding with a biodiversity crisis: a UN summit in Brazil opened this week with nearly half of migratory species in decline, highlighting knock-on risks for fisheries, tourism and ecosystem services. (rfi.fr)
WMO’s State of the Global Climate 2025 reports the mean near‑surface temperature anomaly for 2025 at about 1.43°C above the 1850–1900 baseline, putting 2025 among the three warmest years in the observational record. (wmo.int) The agency says Earth’s energy imbalance hit its highest level in a 65‑year record and that the ocean has absorbed roughly 18 times the annual human energy use each year over the past two decades. (wmo.int) Global ocean heat content reached record highs, with analyses showing upper‑2000m ocean heat content rose by about 23 ± 8 zettajoules in 2025 relative to 2024, continuing an uninterrupted multi‑year increase. (link.springer.com)) Atmospheric CO2 monthly means peaked above 430 ppm in May 2025 (around 430.2 ppm at Mauna Loa), while WMO notes CO2 continued to climb — with a 3.5 ppm rise from 2023 to 2024 and a decade‑average growth rate of ~2.6 ppm/year. (Phys.org) (wmo.int) An interim UN treaty report presented ahead of COP15 in Brazil finds 49% of migratory species populations covered by the Convention on Migratory Species are now declining and 24% face extinction, increases of 5 and 2 percentage points respectively over two years. (cms.int) The 15th CMS Conference of the Parties opened in Campo Grande, Brazil (23–29 March 2026) where parties are considering protective listings and measures — including proposals to add roughly 44 additional fish, bird and terrestrial taxa to CMS protection lists — while delegates flag direct risks to fisheries, tourism and ecosystem services. (unep.org) (ec.europa.eu) (rfi.fr) Economic assessments cited at the meeting underscore systemic risk: the World Bank estimates collapse of key ecosystem services could knock about $2.7 trillion off global GDP annually by 2030, while IPBES places unaccounted‑for costs from current approaches at roughly $10–25 trillion per year. (worldbank.org) (ipbes.net)
