World entering 'age of climate extremes': UN chief
The world is entering a new reality where climate extremes are the norm, the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned Monday, urging leaders at the COP31 climate conference in Turkey to "get serious."
Cattle foraging for grass in a dried-up rice field with cracked soil caused by a prolonged dry season at Wening Galih village in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, August 28, 2026. (Photo: VCG)
"A supersized El Nino is colliding with a planet already superheated by manmade climate change," the UN secretary general said in a statement.
"We have entered a new age of climate extremes."
Severe storm formation and heavy clouds over the municipality of Marilia, in the interior of Sao Paulo state, Brazil, November 7, 2026. (Photo: VCG)
As leaders gathered in Antalya for the UN climate summit, Guterres called on them to "get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and delivering the finance and protection vulnerable countries need."
His statement came as the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released a report indicating that 2026 has continued a streak of exceptional global temperatures, melting ice and rising sea levels.
Each of the past 12 years have been among the hottest 12 years on record, the agency said, with this year expected to be among the hottest ever.
'Off the charts'
"What we are seeing gives new meaning to the phrase off the charts," WMO chief Celeste Saulo told reporters in Geneva, cautioning that the current exceptionally strong El Nino could unleash more heat and extreme weather well into next year.
"We should prepare for another record-breaking year in 2027."
The global average surface temperature between January and September this year was around 1.47 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, the WMO said.
And this year's El Nino – expected to be the strongest since 1950 at least – could push the figure higher by the end of the year.
A resident rides an electric bike through a torrential downpour in north China's Beijing, August 25, 2026. (Photo: VCG)
Preliminary data shows 2026 figuring among the four hottest years on record, WMO climate information chief John Kenned told reporters, adding though that "with the El Nina developing, we might see when the final numbers come in that we're close to the top."
The naturally occurring weather phenomenon releases heat from the ocean, which this year has been the warmest ever measured, Saulo pointed out.
El Nino is declared when the sea surface temperature is half a degree above average in the tropical Pacific, but from now through January, WMO forecasts "it may be 3.8C above average," she said.
The WMO also reported the global sea level was the highest on record, freshwater was dwindling and glaciers were continuing a long-term retreat.
In 2025, the annual mass loss of ice was enough to fill five Olympic pools every second that year, it said.
Surfers walk on Pacifica State Beach in heavy fog in Pacifica, California, US, October 5, 2026. (Photo: VCG)
At the same time, "we are supercharging our weather and El Nino will be a risk multiplier," Saulo said, warning that "heatwaves, tropical cyclones, and rainstorms are intensifying faster than our historical baselines prepared us for."
On a positive note, the WMO hailed a significant increase of countries with essential multi-hazard early warning systems in place, from 55 in 2015 to 136 last year.
It urged the COP31 to ensure more investment in the sustained global observations, data-gathering and forecasting needed for such systems to work.
"We cannot afford to fly blind," Saulo said.