Earth accumulating heat at accelerating rate

The Guardian  - Heat is accumulating in Earth’s systems at an accelerating rate, the UN’s weather agency has reported as the Cop31 climate change summit begins in Turkey, with 2026 on track to be one of the four warmest years on record.

The imbalance between incoming energy from the sun and energy leaving Earth reached its highest level since monitoring began, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its State of the Global Climate update.

That imbalance and the accumulation of heat will supercharge extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts and tropical cyclones.

Around the world, the average surface temperature for January to September 2026 was about 1.47C above the preindustrial average, the agency said. Sea surface temperatures hit monthly records and sea level was the highest since records began. The ocean absorbs 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases and 2026 is on track to be a 10th successive year of record ocean heat.

A volunteer fits a nasal oxygen cannula on a seated woman at a smoke-haze shelter

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A centre for people experiencing respiratory difficulties in Palangkaraya, Indonesia. More than 11,000 people have been treated during a months-long wildfire crisis. Photograph: REINA/AFP/Getty Images

“We have entered a new age of climate extremes,” said António Guterres, the UN secretary general. “A supersized El Niño is colliding with a planet already superheated by manmade climate change. Climate records keep falling. The human costs keep rising. And those least responsible are suffering first and worst.”