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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Monday that the world has entered a new “age of climate extremes,” urging leaders gathered at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, to accelerate emissions cuts and climate action.
“A supersized El Nino is colliding with a planet already superheated by manmade climate change,” Guterres said in a statement. “We have entered a new age of climate extremes.”
He called on governments to “get serious” by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and providing vulnerable countries with greater financing and protection.
Guterres’ remarks came as the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization released a report showing that 2026 continued a period of exceptional global temperatures, melting ice and rising sea levels.
The past 12 years have been the 12 hottest on record, while 2026 is expected to rank among the hottest years ever measured, the WMO said.
Global average surface temperatures from January through September were about 1.47 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.
Preliminary data places 2026 among the four hottest years on record, WMO climate information chief John Kennedy said.
WMO chief Celeste Saulo warned that the exceptionally strong El Nino could drive additional heat and extreme weather into next year.
“What we are seeing gives new meaning to the phrase off the charts,” Saulo said. “We should prepare for another record-breaking year in 2027.”
The current El Nino is expected to be the strongest since at least 1950. The WMO forecasts tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures could reach 3.8 C above average between now and January.
The WMO said global sea levels have reached their highest recorded level, while freshwater supplies are declining and glaciers continue their long-term retreat.
In 2025 alone, annual ice loss was equivalent to filling five Olympic-sized swimming pools every second throughout the year, the agency said.
“We are supercharging our weather and El Nino will be a risk multiplier,” Saulo said, warning that heat waves, tropical cyclones and rainstorms are intensifying beyond historical patterns.
The WMO also highlighted progress in early-warning systems, with the number of countries operating essential multi-hazard systems rising from 55 in 2015 to 136 last year.
It called on COP31 participants to increase investment in global observations, data collection and forecasting.
“We cannot afford to fly blind,” Saulo said.
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