Anyone who drove past a petrol station in recent weeks was in for a surprise: as a result of the Iran war, fuel prices have hit new record highs in many places. How does this tie in with the "State of the Global Climate 2025" report, which the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) presented on Monday? "In this time of war, climate stress reveals yet another truth: our addiction to fossil fuels is destabilising both the climate and global security," says UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

He finds these stark words in light of new figures: the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere reached its highest level in two million years in 2024, at around 424 parts per million (ppm), according to estimates from the 2021 IPCC report. The greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide were at their highest levels in at least 800,000 years. These compounds effectively form a blanket around the Earth, causing more of the sun's heat to be retained and warming the planet.

As a consequence, the Earth's energy balance — recorded over the past 65 years — has never been as far out of equilibrium as it was last year. Under stable climate conditions, roughly as much energy is radiated back out as arrives from the sun, according to a WMO press release. "Human activities are increasingly disrupting the natural balance," says WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo, "and we will have to live with the consequences for hundreds and thousands of years to come."

No coincidence… Read the full report by Julia Sica on derstandard.at