The current year is on track to rank among the four hottest years on record UN data confirmed on Monday, driven by a powerful El Niño that extends a decade-long streak of historic global temperatures.
Released by the World Meteorological Organization ahead of UN climate talks in Turkey from November 9 to 20, the State of the Climate report shows global average temperatures between January and September reached 1.47 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
A 12-Year Warming Streak
Combining nine international data sets, the WMO report reveals that every single year over the last 12 years, including 2026, ranks among the twelve warmest ever recorded since global tracking began around 1850.
"Every indicator here is telling the same story. We're seeing the heat trapped by greenhouse gasses is showing up in the ocean, in the atmosphere, in the melting of ice and the rising of sea levels," WMO Head of Climate Information John Kennedy told reporters in Geneva.
The EU's Copernicus climate service had already warned that 2026 is virtually certain to join 2024 as the second calendar year to push past the critical 1.5 degrees Celsius benchmark targeted under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Oceans Heat Up and Sea Levels Surge
The UN findings highlight that the planet is absorbing heat at an accelerating rate, with global ocean temperatures climbing beyond the record highs set in 2025.
Driven by thermal expansion as seawater warms alongside accelerated melting of polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers, global mean sea levels hit new all-time highs this year, presenting immediate threats to coastal communities worldwide.
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