From January through September, global temperatures averaged 1.47 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the World Meteorological Organization said Monday, putting 2026 on course to rank among the four warmest years on record.
The WMO based its assessment on nine datasets. In records dating to about 1850, every year from 2015 through 2026 ranks among the 12 warmest, it said. A major El Niño could lift this year's average further.
Copernicus, the European Union's climate service, considers it nearly certain that 2026's annual average will exceed preindustrial levels by 1.5 degrees Celsius. That would make it the second calendar year to cross that mark, following 2024. The 1.5-degree threshold features in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
John Kennedy, the WMO's head of climate information, linked the warming to heat trapped by greenhouse gases. “Every indicator here is telling the same story,” he told reporters in Geneva, pointing to changes in the atmosphere, oceans, ice and sea levels.
The WMO said preliminary data through July showed ocean heat content continuing to rise from its 2025 record. It also recorded a new high for global mean sea level this year, citing melting glaciers and ice sheets and the expansion of seawater as it warms.
Climate talks in Turkey were scheduled for Nov. 9-20, with the WMO assessment providing data for the discussions.
