The climate emergency is a direct consequence of carbon-heavy land-use and agriculture, transport, buildings and industrial processes and polluting energy sources. Without profound changes to these sectors and a drastic cut to carbon footprints, there is little hope of protecting the planet from the devastating effects of a warmer world.
Below are climate-related news and events from the United Nations and partners.
In the southeast province of Binh Thuan, Viet Nam, the Dai Phaong wind farm stands as a beacon of innovation and international collaboration. This documentary tells the story of how the UNEP Seed Capital Assessment Facility bridged critical early-stage financing gaps, enabling The Blue Circle to build a 10-turbine wind farm.
The wind farm now powers over 65,000 homes with clean energy, replacing polluting coal-fired and diesel-based systems, and avoiding approximately 90,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually—equivalent to removing 20,000 cars from the road. With a focus on community involvement, the project has also created local jobs and training opportunities.
The world has just experienced the hottest January ever recorded, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on 6 February 2025, citing data crunched by UN partner the Copernicus Climate Service.
The January data was “surprising” even to climate change experts at Copernicus, the European climate change service, which noted that it was the 18th month in the last 19 where the global-average surface air temperature was more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.
“January 2025 is another surprising month, continuing the record temperatures observed throughout the last two years, despite the development of La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific and their temporary cooling effect on global temperatures,” said Samantha Burgess, Copernicus Strategic Lead for Climate.
Based on a recent Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) policy guide published by the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction and Partnership for Energy Efficiency in Buildings, this webinar aims to share practical guidance for policy-makers and practitioners in the 2025 NDC revision. This includes:
The webinar will also showcase experience in designing ambitious and investable NDCs by policymakers from different countries including Kenya, UAE and Nigeria.
REN21 is launching #REbootTheWorld, a global campaign that highlights renewable energy leaders and success stories to demonstrate that the energy transition is not only possible, it's already happening! Showcasing and widely disseminating these stories of resilience and determination helps dispel myths, combat misinformation and inspire change across the world.
In 1985, three British scientists published a paper in the journal Nature that revealed there was a large hole in the ozone layer above the Antarctic. The research sent shockwaves around the world. The ozone layer shields the planet from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation and its loss would decimate life on Earth.
The crisis led to the Montreal Protocol, a landmark global agreement that has put the ozone layer on the path to recovery. But the Protocol also has the potential to do something else: slow climate change.
Here’s a closer look at the Montreal Protocol and how it’s countering climate change.
As glaciers disappear at an alarming rate due to climate change, the UN General Assembly has declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation.
Glaciers and ice sheets hold around 70 per cent of the world's freshwater and their rapid loss presents an urgent environmental and humanitarian crisis. In 2023, glaciers experienced their greatest water loss in over 50 years, marking the second consecutive year in which all glaciated regions worldwide reported ice loss.
With 2024 confirmed as the hottest year on record, the need for immediate and decisive action has never been more critical. “Glaciers don’t care if we believe in science - they just melt in the heat,” said Dr. Carolina Adler of the Mountain Research Initiative.
The rupture of Europe’s Nord Stream gas pipelines more than two years ago resulted in the planet’s largest human-caused release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, finds a new study coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
“The Nord Stream explosions remind us of the immediate climate opportunity represented by reducing methane emissions across the oil and gas industry,” said Manfredi Caltagirone, the head of the UNEP-led International Methane Emissions Observatory.
Saint Kitts and Nevis—a twin-island nation—is increasingly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including drought. Rainfall is the sole source of potable water in the country and dwindling precipitation has meant that 80 per cent of Saint Kitts residents suffer from regular water outages.
UN weather experts from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed on 10 January 2025 that 2024 was the hottest year on record, at 1.55℃ above pre-industrial temperatures.
The 1.5℃ marker is significant because it was a key goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement to try to ensure that global temperature change does not rise more than this above pre-industrial levels, while striving to hold the overall increase to well below 2℃.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo insisted that “climate history is playing out before our eyes. We’ve had not just one or two record-breaking years, but a full ten-year series. “It is essential to recognize that every fraction of a degree of warming matters. Whether it is at a level below or above 1.5C of warming, every additional increment of global warming increases the impacts on our lives, economies and our planet.”
