Global greenhouse gas emissions stayed at record levels in 2025, and the world is on course for 2.6C of warming this century even if countries fully deliver their latest climate pledges, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
The warning comes in the annual Emissions Gap Report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). It says emissions in 2025 were broadly level with the 2024 record, with the difference too small to call. Carbon emissions from burning coal, oil and gas, the main driver of climate change, rose slightly.
If governments stick to current policies alone, warming could reach 2.8C by 2100, the report found. Both figures are well above the Paris Agreement goal of keeping warming well below 2C while striving for 1.5C. The report says any chance of holding to 1.5C has been lost after decades of insufficient action.
Launching the report, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said national climate plans and current policies “fall dangerously short.” He said the world can no longer avoid overshooting the 1.5C limit, and that deadly floods, heatwaves and wildfires are already hitting the people least responsible for the crisis hardest.
The findings put pressure on world leaders ahead of the COP31 climate summit in November.
