Earth’s Heat Imbalance Accelerates as 2026 Nears Record Global Temperatures

By Staff, Agencies

Earth is accumulating heat at an accelerating rate, with the imbalance between incoming solar energy and heat escaping into space reaching its highest level since monitoring began, according to the World Meteorological Organization [WMO]. 

The warning comes as the COP31 climate summit opens in Turkey, with 2026 projected to rank among the four warmest years ever recorded.

The WMO reported that global surface temperatures between January and September 2026 averaged approximately 1.47°C above pre-industrial levels. 

Ocean temperatures and sea levels also reached record highs, while the oceans continued absorbing around 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases. 

The agency warned that the growing heat imbalance would intensify extreme weather events, including heatwaves, droughts, and tropical cyclones.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world had entered "a new age of climate extremes," adding that a powerful El Nino was developing against the backdrop of human-driven global warming. 

He stressed that climate records continued to fall while the human costs increased, with the most vulnerable populations suffering the greatest consequences.

The WMO also reported a sharp rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, which reached 426.8 parts per million in 2025, compared with 356.42 ppm in 1992. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in 1750, concentrations have increased by approximately 53%. 

Meanwhile, the rate of Earth's energy imbalance accelerated significantly, rising by 0.3 watts per square meter per decade between 2001 and 2025, compared with 0.13 watts over the longer period from 1960 to 2025.

The warming has also accelerated across the oceans and polar regions. Ocean heat content in the upper 2,000 meters reached a record high in 2025, while Antarctic sea ice recorded its third-lowest annual maximum in 2026 and Arctic sea ice reached its lowest or second-lowest maximum. 

Glaciers worldwide lost more than 400 gigatonnes of mass, marking the fourth consecutive year of losses across all 19 glacier regions monitored by the WMO. 

The agency warned that continued ocean warming would have consequences that could remain irreversible for centuries or even millennia.