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This article documents notable events, research findings, scientific and technological advances, and human actions to measure, predict,mitigate, andadapt to theeffects ofglobal warming and climate change—during the year 2026.
9 January (reported): anOxfam report concluded that the richest 1% exhausted their annualcarbon budget in ten days.[3] (Carbon budget is the amount ofcarbon dioxide that can be emitted while keeping the planet within 1.5 °C of global warming.)
22 January:Ember'sEuropean 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]
4 February: a study published inScience Advances concluded thatwildfire smoke fineparticulate matter (PM2.5) was responsible for ~24,100 all-cause deaths per year in the contiguous United States.[5]
January (reported): a Chinese company launched the first megawatt-level airborne wind turbine—a 60x40x40m (197x131x131ft) helium-filledaerostat—providing electricity through atether cable from 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above the ground.[6]
14 January: atConcordia Station, Antarctica, theIce Memory Foundation inaugurated a global repository of mountainice cores, to ensure that future generations will be able to study past climate conditions.[7]
15 January: a study published inNature Climate Change estimated the 2020 ocean-basedsocial cost of carbon (SCC) to be almost double that of prior SCC estimates that didn't consider ocean-related impacts.[8]
7 January: US PresidentDonald Trump'sOffice of Management and Budget received a proposed final rule reversing the 2009Endangerment Finding, which stated thatgreenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare by driving climate change. The Endangerment Finding had enabled federal government regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.[11]
8 January: US PresidentDonald Trump's administration announced that the country would be withdrawing from theGreen Climate Fund, which since 2010 has provided funds to help poorer nations deal with the effects of climate change.[12]
27 January: the United States completed its second formal withdrawal from the 2015Paris agreement—one year after US PresidentDonald Trump signed an executive order to begin the withdrawal process.[10] This second withdrawal reversed Trump's predecessorJoe Biden's re-entry into the agreement after Trump's 2017 first withdrawal.[10]
28 January: The Hague District Court ruled that the Dutch government had discriminated against the inhabitants of the Caribbean island ofBonaire, 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 theParis Agreement, as well as making aclimate adaptation plan for Bonaire. The case was started in early 2024 by 8 local residents of Bonaire, together withGreenpeace Netherlands.[13][14] See:Climate change litigation#Bonaire case
28 January: a study published inNature forecast that climate change could lead to 123 million additionalmalaria cases and 532,000 additional deaths in Africa between 2024 and 2050 under current malaria control levels.[17] Extreme weather events are thought to cause 79% of additional cases and 93% of additional deaths.[17]
^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.
^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.
^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.
^abSymons, 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.
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.
!["Vital Signs of the Planet" as presented by NASA at the end of 2025 / beginning of 2026[1]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a20251231_NASA_Vital_Signs_of_the_Planet_2025.png)
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