The annual Indicators of Global Climate Change report, compiled between major UN assessments by more than 70 researchers from more than 50 institutions, paints a picture of a planet increasingly out of energy balance. The single most revealing measurement, according to the report’s authors, is the Earth’s energy imbalance — the net difference between the energy the planet receives from the sun and the energy it radiates back into space.
In a stable climate, the two are roughly equal. But greenhouse gas emissions have thickened the atmosphere’s insulating blanket, trapping heat that would otherwise escape. At the same time, the cleanup of reflective industrial haze has allowed more sunlight to reach the surface, and warming-driven feedback — such as ice giving way to darker ocean and changes in cloud cover — has further amplified the imbalance. The result, Von Schuckmann wrote in an essay published Monday in The Guardian, is that “far less energy is now leaving than coming in, and the imbalance has more than doubled since the late 20th century.”
That energy overload drives nearly every other symptom the report records: rising air and ocean temperatures, melting ice, and more extreme weather. Marine heatwaves — prolonged periods when sea surface temperatures reach abnormally high levels — are a direct consequence. Von Schuckmann, an IGCC author and senior adviser at Mercator Ocean International, said these heatwaves are already causing visible harm. “A severe and persistent marine heatwave bleaches coral reefs, strips away the kelp forests that shelter young fish, empties fishing grounds and — if occurring frequently — can tip whole ecosystems past the point of recovery,” she wrote.
The report estimates human-induced warming at approximately 1.37°C above pre-industrial levels. Sea-level rise has accelerated: the global average has increased 23 centimeters since 1901, with the rate more than doubling in recent decades, pushing floodwaters deeper into low-lying coastal areas and raising the baseline of every storm surge.
Von Schuckmann said one of her greatest concerns is that the ability to monitor these changes is itself under threat. “What we know about the ocean and Earth’s energy imbalance rests on a sophisticated network of sensors kept in waters across the globe and satellites,” she wrote. Last month, funding cuts were announced: four of five monitoring sites across the Pacific and Atlantic are set to be closed, and equipment is already being pulled from the water. “At the precise moment we most need to see clearly, we are turning off the lights,” she said.
Despite the dire indicators, Von Schuckmann said the situation is not hopeless. “Nearly every indicator of climate change is flashing red, but citizens, businesses and policymakers still hold the tools available to bring the planet back into balance.”