Planetary extremes are ‘off the charts’ as world’s biggest climate talks kick off

By Laura Paddison, CNN

(CNN) — The climate and weather extremes endured by the planet over the course of 2026 will continue into next year, and give “new meaning to off the charts,” according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization, published Monday as the world’s biggest climate talks begin in Turkey.

The report, timed to inform discussions at the UN-led COP31 climate conference, highlights a slew of unprecedented climate events and warns worse may be to come as as a super-sized El Niño — the natural climate pattern that typically boosts global temperatures — gains strength.

“We are supercharging our weather and El Niño will be a risk multiplier. Heatwaves, tropical cyclones, and rainstorms are intensifying faster than our historical baselines prepared us for,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

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The analysis, which looks at data from January 2025 to September 2026, sets out a raft of climate superlatives:

• The past 12 years have been the warmest 12 on record, and 2026 will end up in the top four, with global temperatures between January and September 1.47 degrees Celsius (2.6 Fahrenheit) above the period before humans began burning large amounts of fossil fuels.
• The current El Niño is on track to be the most intense on record and will continue into 2027, ramping up the likelihood of a host of extreme weather events: floods for some, heat, drought and fire for others.
• Planet-polluting gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide all reached record levels in 2025, trapping unprecedented amounts of heat. Real-time measurements indicate they have continued to increase this year.
• Sea levels have reached a record high this year and ocean temperatures set new monthly records.
• Glaciers continue to melt at alarming rates, shedding enough ice in 2025 to fill five Olympic-sized swimming pools every second for a year.

“We have entered a new age of climate extremes,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “A supersized El Niño is colliding with a planet already superheated by manmade climate change. Climate records keep falling. The human costs keep rising.”

And this year, these costs have been unbearably clear. They can be seen in series of brutal heat waves that roiled Europe this summer, which are estimated to have killed more than 50,000 people, although scientists say even that staggering number is likely an undercount.

They are shown in the the rock-ice avalanche that tore through the valleys on the Nepal-China border killing more than 1,300 people, a tragedy scientists say was influenced by climate change and its impact on the ice that acts like glue in the Himalayan peaks.

From flooding in Vietnam, to low monsoon rainfall in India, countries across the world have grappled with climate change-driven extremes, damaging food production, eroding livelihoods and increasing poverty.

The world cannot expect a reprieve next year, the report cautions. The very strong El Niño we are currently experiencing is expected to unleash more heat and extreme weather well into 2027, which some scientists predict may end up the hottest year on record.

The report comes as leaders prepare to make their speeches at the opening of COP31 in Antalya, Turkey. Over the next two weeks, countries will be locked in negotiations focused on how to shift the world away from planet-heating fossil fuels and toward clean energy, as well as who should pay and how much to those countries already facing the catastrophic climate impacts.

COP conferences often end up mired in fierce disagreements, with some some countries pushing for ambitious action while others, dominated by the major oil-producing nations, push back. The resulting outcomes are often criticized as weak and ineffectual. Last year’s final agreement didn’t even mention fossil fuels — the main driver of the climate crisis.

The UN Secretary-General has urged countries to increase their ambition levels in the face of accelerating climate change. “Leaders must get serious by cutting emissions faster,” Guterres said, “accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and delivering the finance and protection vulnerable countries need.”

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