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2026 in climate change

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This article documents notable events, research findings, scientific and technological advances, and human actions to measure, predict, mitigate, and adapt to the effects of global warming and climate change—during the year 2026.

Summaries

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Measurements and statistics

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  • "Vital Signs of the Planet" as presented by NASA at the end of 2025 / beginning of 2026[1]
    "Vital Signs of the Planet" as presented by NASA at the end of 2025 / beginning of 2026[1]
  • 9 January: a report published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences said that ocean heat content in 2025 had reached a new record for nine consecutive years.[2]
  • 9 January (reported): an Oxfam report concluded that the richest 1% exhausted their annual carbon budget in ten days.[3] (Carbon budget is the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted while keeping the planet within 1.5 °C of global warming.)
  • 22 January: Ember's European Electricity Review 2026 reported that in 2025, wind and solar energy provided 30% of EU electricity, surpassing fossil power (29%) for the first time, and generating more power than fossil sources in 14 of 27 EU countries.[4]

Natural events and phenomena

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  • 4 February: a study published in Science Advances concluded that wildfire smoke fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was responsible for ~24,100 all-cause deaths per year in the contiguous United States.[5]
  • 12 February: a study published in Nature Geoscience estimated that the contribution associated with a La Niña-to-El Niño transition explains about 75% of the 2022-2023 extreme increase in Earth's energy uptake, contributing to the record global surface temperatures and widespread climate extremes observed in 2023–2024.[6]
  • 25 February: a study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution stated that long-term global warming was associated with an annual fish biomass decline of up to 19.8% between 1993 and 2021 in major Northern Hemisphere basins.[7]
  • 25 February: a study published in PLOS One reported that between 1794 and 2024, there was an average absolute shift in flowering of tropical plants of 2.04 days per decade (range: 0.037–14.10), comparable to changes seen in temperate, boreal and alpine desert plants, and severe enough to cause interspecific misalignment between pollinators and seed dispersers.[8]

Actions, and goal statements

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Science and technology

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  • January (reported): a Chinese company launched the first megawatt-level airborne wind turbine—a 60x40x40 m (197x131x131 ft) helium-filled aerostat—providing electricity through a tether cable from 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above the ground.[9]
  • 14 January: at Concordia Station, Antarctica, the Ice Memory Foundation inaugurated a global repository of mountain ice cores, to ensure that future generations will be able to study past climate conditions.[10]
  • 15 January: a study published in Nature Climate Change estimated the 2020 ocean-based social cost of carbon (SCC) to be almost double that of prior SCC estimates that didn't consider ocean-related impacts.[11]
  • 12 February: anomalous increases in tropical sea surface temperatures have caused NOAA to revise the threshold distinguishing La Niña and El Niño (ENSO) events from each other.[12] The new method replaces a dependency on a 30-year climate base period with the Relative Oceanic Niño Index (RONI): a comparison of the ENSO region to the global tropics.[12]
  • 4 March: a study published in Nature concluded that sea level measurements that have been based on geoid models rather than actual sea level measurements have underestimated the degree of sea level rise.[13]

Political, economic, legal, and cultural actions

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Threat to global stability and prosperity

     Let’s tell it like it is: The world’s addiction to fossil fuels is one of the greatest threats to global stability and prosperity. Three fourths of humanity lives in countries that are net importers of fossil fuels; dependent on energy they do not control at prices they cannot predict; watching development budgets siphoned into fuel bills; at the constant mercy of geopolitical turmoil and supply disruptions.

—UN Secretary General António Guterres
18 January 2026[14]

Mitigation goal statements

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Adaptation goal statements

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Consensus

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Projections

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  • 28 January: a study published in Nature forecast that climate change could lead to 123 million additional malaria cases and 532,000 additional deaths in Africa between 2024 and 2050 under current malaria control levels.[25] Extreme weather events are thought to cause 79% of additional cases and 93% of additional deaths.[25]

Significant publications

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  • "Global Water Bankruptcy / Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era" (PDF). United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. 20 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Climate change / Vital signs". science.NASA.gov. NASA. 31 December 2025. Archived from the original on 31 December 2025.
  2. ^ Pan, Y., Cheng, L., Abraham, J. et al. "Ocean Heat Content Sets Another Record in 2025". Advances in Atmospheric Sciences: 6737. 9 January 2026. doi:10.1007/s00376-026-5876-0.
  3. ^ "Richest 1% have blown through their fair share of carbon emissions for 2026 in just 10 days, says Oxfam". Oxfam. 9 January 2026. Archived from the original on 11 January 2026.
  4. ^ "European Electricity Review 2026" (PDF). Ember. 22 January 2026. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 January 2026.
  5. ^ Zhang, Min; Castro, Edgar; Shtein, Alexandra; Peralta, Adjani A.; et al. (4 February 2026). "Wildfire smoke PM2.5 and mortality rate in the contiguous United States: A causal modeling study". Science Advances. 12 (6). doi:10.1126/sciadv.adw5890.
  6. ^ Tsuchida, Ko; Kosaka, Yu; Minobe, Shoshiro (12 February 2026). "Multi-year La Niña–El Niño transition influenced Earth's extreme energy uptake in 2022–2023". Nature Geoscience. doi:10.1038/s41561-026-01921-6.
  7. ^ Chaikin, Shahar; Bonzalez-Trujillo, Juan David; Araujo, Miguel B. (25 February 2026). "Long-term warming reduces fish biomass, but heatwaves shift it". Nature Ecology & Evolution. doi:10.1038/s41559-026-03013-5.
  8. ^ Graves, Skylar; Manzitto-Tripp, Erin A. (25 February 2026). "Observing shifts in phenology of tropical flowering plants". PLoS One. 21 (2): e0342105. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0342105.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  9. ^ Sinha, Sujita (13 January 2026). "China's world-first megawatt-level 'windmill' airship rises 6,560 ft, feeds grid". Interesting Engineering. Archived from the original on 15 January 2026.
  10. ^ Winfield, Nicole; Santalucia, Paulo (14 January 2026). "A novel sanctuary in Antarctica is preserving ice samples from rapidly melting glaciers". AP News. Archived from the original on 15 January 2026.
  11. ^ Bastien-Olvera, Bernardo A.; Aburto-Oropeza, Octavio; Brander, Luke M.; Cheung, William W. L.; Emmerling, Johannes; Free, christopher M.; Granella, Francesco; Tavoni, Massimo; Verschuur, Jasper; Ricke, Katharine (15 January 2026). "Accounting for ocean impacts nearly doubles the social cost of carbon". Nature Climate Change. doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02533-5.
  12. ^ a b "CPC adopts Relative Oceanic Niño Index (RONI) for reliable, responsive monitoring and tracking of ENSO". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 12 February 2026. Archived from the original on 24 February 2026.
  13. ^ Seegeer, Katharina; Minderhoud, Philip S. J. (4 March 2026). "Sea level much higher than assumed in most coastal hazard assessments". Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10196-1.
  14. ^ Guterres, António (18 February 2026). "At International Energy Agency Ministerial Meeting, Secretary-General Calls for 'Honest Dialogue', Global Platform to Phase Out Fossil Fuels". United Nations.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  15. ^ Sengupta, Somini; Friedman, Lisa (7 January 2025). "Trump Pulls Out of Global Climate Treaty". The New York Times.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  16. ^ a b c Friedman, Lisa (27 January 2026). "America Officially Leaves the Paris Climate Agreement. For the Second Time". The New York Times.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  17. ^ Ahmed, Issam (16 January 2026). "US To Repeal The Basis For Its Climate Rules: What To Know". Barron's. Archived from the original on 18 January 2026.
  18. ^ Schonhardt, Sara (8 January 2026). "US ditches world's biggest climate fund, a day after spurning landmark treaty". Politico.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  19. ^ "Dutch government is ordered to protect residents on Caribbean island of Bonaire from climate change". AP News. 28 January 2026. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
  20. ^ Kaminski, Isabella (28 January 2026). "Dutch government discriminated against Bonaire islanders over climate adaptation, court rules". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
  21. ^ a b Friedman, Lisa (30 January 2026). "A Secret Panel to Question Climate Science Was Unlawful, Judge Rules". The New York Times.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  22. ^ Rosenberg, Robin L. (6 February 2026). "(letter:) Dear Attorney General McCuskey," (PDF). Federal Judicial Center. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 February 2026.
  23. ^ Gross, Liza (3 March 2026). "Scientists, Engineers and Legal Experts Condemn Partisan Attack on Scientific Reference Manual for Judges". Inside Climate News. Archived from the original on 4 March 2026.
  24. ^ Spring, Jake; Wojahn, Ambrosia; Dennis, Brady (12 February 2026). "Trump repeals U.S. government's power to regulate climate". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 13 February 2026.
  25. ^ a b Symons, Tasmin L.; Moran, Alexander; Balzarolo, Ann; Vargas, Camilo; et al. (28 January 2026). "Projected impacts of climate change on malaria in Africa". Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-10015-z.
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Organizations

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Surveys, summaries and report lists

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