Earth faces “rapid destabilization” as a result of climate change, an international group of scientists find in the latest edition of an annual checkup of the planet’s “vital signs.”
“This is no longer a warning for the future; it is a diagnosis of the present,” the authors write.
The report, the latest in a series called the “State of the Climate,” measures 16 key markers of Earth’s climate. Seven of these have reached “record extremes,” says report co-author Christopher Wolf, a research scientist at Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Associates. These extremes include soaring greenhouse gas concentrations, melting sea ice and sea-level rise—driven largely by human activities.
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“Global warming appears to be accelerating,” Wolf says.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a by-product of burning fossil fuels, has reached record-high levels (428 parts per million), as have other greenhouse gases such as methane (1,940 parts per billion) and nitrous oxide (340 parts per billion). The ocean has absorbed a record-breaking jump in heat, which, in turn, has helped fuel unprecedented sea-level rise. At the same time, higher temperatures have meant record losses in the Greenland ice sheet and glaciers.
“Earth’s life-support systems are being pushed beyond stable limits, with changes unfolding faster than our ability to respond,” Wolf and his co-authors write in the report.
Humans are in danger as a result: since September 2025 climate change has fueled myriad natural disasters, including floods in Albania, Bali, Brazil, Columbia, Greece, Indonesia, and Vietnam; heat waves in Europe, India and the U.S.; wildfires in Australia and Florida; and more, the report finds.
The future, the report warns, may be bleak.
“We are increasingly concerned about the risk of crossing climate tipping points that could lead to irreversible changes,” Wolf says.
That could include disruptions to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)—the movement of cold and warm water across the Atlantic Ocean, which influences global weather—as well as what the report describes as “irreversible” damage to the Amazon rainforest thanks to the double whammy of global warming and deforestation. Only bold action to reduce fossil fuel use can help halt or reverse this devastation, the authors write.
“The climate emergency is already here, but the future is not yet determined,” Wolf says. “We still have opportunities to avoid some of the worst outcomes through rapid emissions reductions, climate adaptation and broader societal changes. The window for action is narrowing, but it has not closed.”
The report was published in the journal BioScience on Wednesday.
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