Search Climate Insights Directory

2025 was Earth's third-warmest year on record, with average temperatures 1.3°C above pre-industrial levels. This continues a heat streak driven by fossil fuel pollution, pushing the planet toward the 1.5°C long-term warming limit, which could be exceeded by 2030. While global electricity demand is increasingly met by renewables, the U.S. has recently rolled back clean energy policies and withdrawn from key international climate agreements.

The report finds that while December 2025 temperatures in the U.S. were evenly split between warmer-than-average and cooler-than-average cities, long-term trends show nearly all analyzed cities have warmed since 1970. The Southwest was the most unusually hot region, with Casper, Wyoming, recording the highest anomaly. Climate signal (CSI) was minimal nationwide, though San Juan, Puerto Rico, saw 10 days where temperatures were at least five times more likely due to climate change.

In 2025, global coal capacity grew by 3.5% while generation fell by 0.6%, a divergence driven primarily by China and India. While new commissioning reached near-record levels of 97.4 GW, coal is increasingly used as 'system insurance' rather than a primary energy source. The global pipeline is narrowing geographically, with only 32 countries proposing or building new plants in 2025, and 95% of all construction concentrated in China and India. Meanwhile, the U.S. and EU saw significant delays in planned retirements, though for different reasons: federal emergency orders in the U.S. and energy security concerns in the EU. Latin America reached 'No New Coal' status in 2025, while South Korea committed to a phaseout by 2040.

The Living Planet Report 2026 highlights a 73% average decline in monitored vertebrate populations between 1970 and 2022, while emphasizing that targeted conservation has successfully recovered species like tigers and green sea turtles. It identifies the energy, food, and financial systems as the primary drivers of nature loss and argues that while the energy transition has reached an 'accelerating' phase, the food and finance systems remain in an 'enabling' phase. The report calls for a whole-of-society approach, including the recognition of Indigenous Peoples' rights and the redirection of trillions in harmful subsidies, to trigger positive tipping points by 2030.

The Living Planet Report 2026 documents a 73% average decline in monitored vertebrate populations between 1970 and 2022. It identifies the energy, food, and financial systems as the primary drivers of this loss. The report introduces a framework of 'positive tipping points'—thresholds where beneficial change becomes self-amplifying—to accelerate the transition to a nature-positive economy. While the energy sector is already in an 'accelerating phase,' the food and finance sectors remain in the 'enabling phase.' The report emphasizes that achieving the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets by 2030 requires coordinated global action, subsidy reform, and the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in governance.

In 2025, solar and wind power expanded fast enough to outpace global electricity demand growth for the first time over a sustained period. Solar growth accelerated in Africa and Central Europe, while BRICS nations now generate over half of global solar power. The rise of 'electrotech'—led by China—and falling battery costs are enabling fossil-free baseload power and supporting the energy demands of AI and data centres.

The document reports that 2025 is virtually certain to be among the top five hottest years globally, driven by rising carbon pollution from fossil fuels. In the U.S., record high temperatures significantly outpaced record lows, and the year saw a record-costly start for billion-dollar weather and climate disasters, including the most expensive wildfire event on record in Los Angeles. Globally, carbon pollution intensified Hurricane Melissa, which devastated Jamaica. The report also highlights a trend of 'hydroclimate whiplash' contributing to both the Los Angeles fires and deadly flash floods in Texas, while noting that the U.S. has rolled back key clean energy policies and is set to withdraw from the Paris Agreement by January 2026.

The document reports that November 2025 was the third warmest on record globally and the fourth warmest for the contiguous U.S. It highlights a long-term trend of warming winters in the U.S., where the coldest day of the year has warmed by approximately 7°F since 1970. The briefing also notes significant regional anomalies, such as extreme warmth in Texas and heavy rainfall in southern California, while discussing the ongoing La Niña advisory and its expected impacts on weather patterns through early 2026.

The report finds that while PDB climate ambition has generally increased since the Paris Agreement, progress is uneven. A small group of high-ambition PDBs provides the vast majority of climate finance, while many others remain in 'limited' or 'minimal' ambition clusters. The report identifies systemic gaps in capacity building—specifically a lack of long-term, institution-wide support—and recommends a shift toward multi-year, sequenced technical assistance and the development of regional TA ecosystems to mobilize the trillions in assets held by less ambitious PDBs.

The report finds that the world is off-track to meet all SDG7 targets by 2030. While electricity access has improved, Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 85% of the remaining deficit. Clean cooking access is severely lagging, with 2.1 billion people lacking access. Renewable energy shares in total final energy consumption are stagnating, and energy intensity improvements are insufficient, requiring a 4% annual increase to meet goals.

The report examines how activists and civil society in Latin America and the Caribbean use climate litigation to block fossil fuel expansion and promote policies aligned with the Paris Agreement. It highlights a predominantly rights-based approach, emphasizing the right to a healthy environment and the protection of Indigenous communities. The analysis identifies significant institutional barriers in the region, including high litigation costs, structural violence against environmental defenders, and a lack of specialized judicial training. While the region leads the Global South in climate litigation volume, it lags behind the Global North in lawsuits targeting private corporations directly. The document also warns of 'backlash' through investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms, where companies use international arbitration to challenge decarbonization policies.

Analysis of 245 U.S. cities shows that 92% experienced rising November temperatures since 1970, with an average increase of 2.4°F. The highest warming occurred in El Paso, Texas (6.4°F), followed by Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. This warming trend, alongside earlier springs and hotter summers, threatens cranberry production in the Northeast through frost vulnerability and 'cranberry scald', potentially increasing food prices.

Ten years after the Paris Agreement, solar energy has transitioned from a marginal source to the fastest-growing electricity source globally, with leadership shifting from advanced economies to emerging markets. Brazil, China, and India have been central to this shift, collectively accounting for 60% of new solar capacity since 2015. The report highlights how national commitments (NDCs), international financing, and industrial policies—such as Brazil's renewable energy auctions and China's manufacturing scale—have drastically reduced costs and increased global deployment. By 2025, the world reached 2.2 TW of solar capacity, with the focus now shifting toward energy storage and grid reliability to ensure 24/7 availability.

The report details the transition of solar leadership from mature to emerging economies following the 2015 Paris Agreement. It highlights the exponential growth of solar power globally, rising from 1% of generation in 2015 to 8.8% in the first half of 2025. The document specifically examines the roles of Brazil, China, and India, noting that these three countries account for 60% of all new solar capacity since 2015. It attributes this surge to national targets (NDCs), international climate finance, and the establishment of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

In the first three quarters of 2025, record solar and wind growth exceeded electricity demand increases, leading to a forecast of no fossil fuel growth for the full year—the first such occurrence since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Analysis of 244 U.S. cities shows that winters are the fastest-warming season for most of the country, with average temperatures increasing by 3.9°F since 1970. This trend is characterized by fewer freezing nights, shorter cold streaks, and a significant increase in warmer-than-normal winter days, particularly in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. These changes threaten mountain snowpack, crop yields for the $27 billion fruit and nut industry, and the winter recreation economy, while potentially increasing pest-related health risks and allergy durations.

Indonesia faces a significant funding gap to meet its 2030 climate targets, requiring approximately $19 billion annually. Between 2019 and 2023, investment in fossil fuel power plants was nearly double that of renewable energy, heavily driven by international private finance. While renewable energy investment is dominated by baseload sources like hydro and geothermal, variable RE such as solar and wind began growing in 2021. A critical challenge is the rise of captive fossil-fuel power plants used for nickel processing, which are exempt from certain coal-fired power plant bans.

The report evaluates the climate transition progress of global private financial institutions (FIs) using the Net Zero Finance Tracker (NZFT). While target adoption has expanded, the quality of these targets remains weak, particularly regarding fossil fuel phase-outs. Implementation has improved in areas like climate risk disclosure, but real-world impact is limited: financed emissions have decreased only slightly since 2019, and credit financing remains heavily skewed toward fossil fuels. Direct finance for clean and transition energy projects grew by 18% annually from 2019 to 2024, reaching nearly USD 126 billion, though this investment is concentrated in advanced economies.

The report identifies a growing global landscape of over 60 sustainable finance taxonomies, noting high-level interoperability in classification structures and objectives but significant challenges at the granular criteria level. While development is accelerating, implementation remains in early stages, particularly in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). The Taxonomy Roadmap Initiative, launched at COP29, aims to address these gaps through three pillars: identifying core economic activities, developing common technical approaches, and formulating transition finance guidelines. To support these goals, the initiative is launching a set of tools at COP30, including a Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Mapper and Principles for Taxonomy Interoperability.

In 2023, climate finance to EMDEs surpassed USD 1 trillion, with 80% sourced domestically and China accounting for 64% of total flows. While mitigation finance grew to USD 979 billion, it remains far below the estimated USD 3.86 trillion annual need. Adaptation finance totaled USD 48 billion, showing significant unevenness as the top 20% of countries received over 70% of these funds. International public finance exceeded USD 159 billion, but faces potential declines due to ODA cuts, while international private finance rose to USD 49 billion. The report emphasizes that EMDEs require nearly USD 4 trillion annually through 2030 to achieve climate goals.