A worrying report has revealed that greenhouse gas emissions have hit an all–time high.
The annual Indicators of Global Climate Change report found that 56.8 billion tonnes of CO2 were released in 2024.
The vast majority of these emissions came from burning fossil fuels, such as coal, petrol, and diesel, while other forms of industry, including agriculture, also contributed.
This brings the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere to 425.6 parts per million in 2025, the highest level ever recorded.
Concentrations of the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide also hit record concentrations, respectively reaching 1936.3 parts per billion (ppb) and 339.4 ppb.
And despite a push towards green energy, total greenhouse gas emissions are still increasing, albeit not quite as fast as they were at the peak during the 2000s.
In their report, 70 scientists from around the world warn that this buildup of gases is directly causing the planet to warm far faster than any natural processes could account for.
Dr Matt Palmer, Science Fellow at the UK Met Office, says: ‘It comes down to a simple principle: we are emitting more greenhouse gases than ever before, causing rising greenhouse gas levels which are trapping more and more heat in the atmosphere and pushing the world out of balance.’
The annual Indicators of Global Climate Change found that 56.8 billion tonnes of CO2 were released in 2024 as emission rates continue to accelerate
A worrying report warns that global greenhouse gas emissions have hit their highest levels on record, largely due to burning fossil fuels
Lead author Professor Piers Foster, of the University of Leeds, told the Daily Mail that greenhouse gas emissions are ‘causing a relentless rise in atmospheric greenhouse gas levels which traps more and more heat and pushes the world further out of balance’.
Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide act like an insulating blanket wrapping around the planet, allowing heat from the sun in and trapping it there.
When this blanket gets too thick, it disturbs the Earth’s ‘energy imbalance’, which measures how fast heat accumulates in the climate system.
Professor Foster says: ‘Without human influence, it [the energy imbalance] should be close to zero, but it has been growing since the 1970s and is now at a record high, doubling in recent decades.’
That means that heat is now building up in the atmosphere faster than it can escape into space, leading to steady and inevitable warming.
In 2025, the rate of this human–caused warming remains at a record high of 0.27°C (0.49°F), the same as it was in 2024.
The decade from 2016 to 2025 was 0.32°C hotter than the last, making it the hottest 10 years on record.
Natural cycles like the El Niño–Southern Oscillation do cause temperature fluctuations on the scale of individual years.
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has risen to 425.6 parts per million in 2025, the highest level ever recorded
However, Professor Foster says that ‘all’ of the world’s warming averaged over the last decade can be attributed directly to human activity.
‘In some years, such as 2023 and 2024, El Niño caused by natural variations added an extra 0.1 degrees or so to the human–caused warming,’ says Professor Foster.
Dr Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate in the Copernicus Climate Change Service, added: ‘Our study demonstrates that nearly all of the warming over the last decade is driven by human activities.’
At this rate, the researchers expect the world to exceed 1.5°C (2.7°F) above the pre–industrial average in about four years.
As the planet gets warmer, the remaining ‘carbon budget’ – the amount of CO2 that can be emitted while avoiding 1.5°C of warming – dwindles.
From the start of 2026, the researchers estimate the remaining budget to be 130 gigatonnes of CO2 – which will be exhausted in just three years at current rates.
However, the disruption to Earth’s energy imbalance is already starting to have widespread effects that are being felt all around the world.
A warmer climate means a greater chance of extreme weather events, including scorching heatwaves.
Greenhouse gases have disturbed the Earth’s energy imbalance (right), trapping heat in the Earth’s climate, where it builds up in the ocean (left) and atmosphere
The warming climate means that sea levels are rising faster than ever before, reaching a new record level of 23 cm of rise since 1901
While climate change does not directly create the weather conditions that trigger heatwaves, it does make heatwaves on land and sea more frequent and intense.
The number of days experiencing marine heatwaves has more than tripled globally between 1991 and 2025, consistent with human–caused climate change.
Globally, 2025 alone experienced 65 days of marine heatwaves, with devastating consequences for marine ecosystems.
Warmer oceans also mean faster increases in global sea level due to water’s natural expansion and runoff from melting ice on land.
Dr Aimée Slangen, Research Leader at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, says: ‘In 2025, global sea level rise reached a new record of 23 cm of rise since 1901, at a rate of around 1.8 mm per year, and this rate is speeding up fast.
‘This might sound small, but even this level of change is increasing coastal flooding in low–lying areas around the world, harming livelihoods and ecosystems.’
