Climate risks: record heat and policy friction
New climate data and policy signals show rising systemic risk — the WMO says the last 11 years are the hottest on record and a U.S. study finds 77% of national parks are highly vulnerable to climate change. Policy responses are uneven: Australia’s parliamentary inquiry warns that climate misinformation is blocking renewables projects, while France has adopted a formal 'reference warming trajectory' for adaptation planning. ( )
WMO’s State of the Global Climate 2025 reports that 2015–2025 are the hottest 11 years on record, places 2025 about 1.43 °C above the 1850–1900 baseline, and says the planet’s energy imbalance is the highest in a 65‑year record while the ocean has absorbed roughly 18 times annual human energy use each year for the past two decades. (wmo.int) A Conservation Letters paper, “Relative Vulnerability of US National Parks to Cumulative and Transformational Climate Impacts,” assessed 259 contiguous‑U.S. park units and found 77% ranked as highly vulnerable using exposure, sensitivity and adaptive‑capacity metrics; lead author Julia L. Michalak and colleagues highlight the Midwest and eastern parks as having the highest cumulative vulnerability. (conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com) Australia’s Senate Select Committee tabled “The Integrity Gap: Restoring Trust in the Climate and Energy Debate” in March 2026 and the report states coordinated misinformation and disinformation have manipulated public discourse and, in some cases, stalled the rollout of renewable projects, accompanying 21 recommended actions for government and platforms. (parlinfo.aph.gov.au) France enacted a formal Trajectoire de Réchauffement de Référence (TRACC) by decree on 23 January 2026, embedding the reference warming trajectory in the Environmental Code and directing Météo‑France to produce the regional climate projections required to align national and regional adaptation plans. (ecologie.gouv.fr) The Australian inquiry documents specific tactics—astroturfing, misleading local campaigns, and social‑media amplification—that have delayed local renewable projects and prompted minority and majority recommendations for greater transparency, platform oversight and monitoring of hidden influence networks. (energynewsbulletin.net)
