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
[edit]Measurements and statistics
[edit]-
!["Vital Signs of the Planet" as presented by NASA at the end of 2025 / beginning of 2026[1]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/20251231_NASA_Vital_Signs_of_the_Planet_2025.png/1280px-20251231_NASA_Vital_Signs_of_the_Planet_2025.png)
"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]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20251231_NASA_Vital_Signs_of_the_Planet_2025.png)
- 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
[edit]- 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]
Actions, and goal statements
[edit]Science and technology
[edit]- 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.[7]
- 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.[8]
- 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.[9]
- 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.[10] 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.[10]
Political, economic, legal, and cultural actions
[edit]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.
- 7 January: US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would be withdrawing from the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and 65 other international organizations—alleging the treaties "no longer serve American interests".[12] The UNFCC was unanimously ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1992 and signed by then President George H. W. Bush.[13]
- 7 January: US President Donald Trump's Office of Management and Budget received a proposed final rule reversing the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which stated that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare by driving climate change. The Endangerment Finding had enabled federal government regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.[14]
- 8 January: US President Donald Trump's administration announced that the country would be withdrawing from the Green Climate Fund, which since 2010 has provided funds to help poorer nations deal with the effects of climate change.[15]
- 27 January: the United States completed its second formal withdrawal from the 2015 Paris agreement—one year after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin the withdrawal process.[13] This second withdrawal reversed Trump's predecessor Joe Biden's re-entry into the agreement after Trump's 2017 first withdrawal.[13]
- 28 January: The Hague District Court ruled that the Dutch government had discriminated against the inhabitants of the Caribbean island of Bonaire, by not taking timely and appropriate measures to protect them against the consequences of climate change. The court ordered the Dutch government to set legally binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, as well as making a climate adaptation plan for Bonaire. The case was started in early 2024 by 8 local residents of Bonaire, together with Greenpeace Netherlands.[16][17] See: Climate change litigation#Bonaire case
- 30 January: a US federal judge ruled that the Trump administration's Department of Energy violated the law with its "Climate Working Group" of five handpicked climate change skeptics who reject the scientific consensus on climate change.[18] The group's July 2025 A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate supported the administration's attack on the 2009 Endangerment Finding that underpins the US federal government's legal authority to combat climate change.[18]
- 12 February: the US Environmental Protection Agency formally rescinded the Endangerment Finding, which had enabled US federal government regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.[19]
Mitigation goal statements
[edit]Adaptation goal statements
[edit]Consensus
[edit]Projections
[edit]- 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.[20] Extreme weather events are thought to cause 79% of additional cases and 93% of additional deaths.[20]
Significant publications
[edit]- "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.
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See also
[edit]- 2026 in science
- 2026 in Antarctica
- Climatology § History
- History of climate change policy and politics
- History of climate change science
- Politics of climate change § History
- Timeline of sustainable energy research 2020–present
References
[edit]- ^ "Climate change / Vital signs". science.NASA.gov. NASA. 31 December 2025. Archived from the original on 31 December 2025.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "European Electricity Review 2026" (PDF). Ember. 22 January 2026. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 January 2026.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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. Archived from the original on 19 February 2026.
- ^ Sengupta, Somini; Friedman, Lisa (7 January 2025). "Trump Pulls Out of Global Climate Treaty". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 January 2026.
- ^ a b c Friedman, Lisa (27 January 2026). "America Officially Leaves the Paris Climate Agreement. For the Second Time". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 January 2026.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Schonhardt, Sara (8 January 2026). "US ditches world's biggest climate fund, a day after spurning landmark treaty". Politico. Archived from the original on 8 January 2026.
- ^ "Dutch government is ordered to protect residents on Caribbean island of Bonaire from climate change". AP News. 28 January 2026. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Friedman, Lisa (30 January 2026). "A Secret Panel to Question Climate Science Was Unlawful, Judge Rules". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 31 January 2026.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
External links
[edit]Organizations
[edit]- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
- World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
- Climate indicators at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S)
Surveys, summaries and report lists
[edit]- Leiserowitz, A., Kotcher, J., Rosenthal, S., Goddard, E., Carman, J., Verner, M., Myers, T., Ettinger, J., Fine, J., Richards, E., Goldberg, M., Marlon, J., & Maibach, E. "Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, Fall 2025" (PDF). Yale Program on Climate Communication. 27 January 2026. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 February 2026.
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