Earth at its hottest temperature in 125,000 years, report finds

Earth has reached its hottest temperature of the past 125,000 years, and its "vital signs" are being pushed to the brink, the 2025 State of the Climate Report has warned.

Record amounts of tree cover lost to fire, fossil fuel consumption, and ocean heat were all recorded, while in 2024 the Earth's average annual temperature was more than 1.5 degrees warmer than pre-industrial levels.

About 125,000 years ago, Neanderthals still thrived, while early homo sapiens were just beginning to move out of Africa - and megafauna like woolly mammoths and giant wombats still roamed the world.

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But report co-author, Professor Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick of the ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather and the Australian National University, insists that it's not time to give up.

With many global vital signs continuing to trend sharply in the wrong direction, she said that"every fraction of warming we manage to prevent will avert a worse climate catastrophe"

"What we urgently need in Australia are real actions to rapidly reduce emissions and serious climate mitigation and adaptation strategies," Perkins-Kirkpatrick said.

"If we fail to plan for the reality of a hotter climate with more high-impact weather events, we'll be staring down escalating disasters that will swamp our emergency services, strain our economy, and destabilise communities here and across the region.

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"The longer we wait, the faster we head toward climate-fuelled chaos, and that's a risk we simply can't afford."

The report identified high-impact solutions that would do more than half the work to limit warming to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels - compared to the 3.1 degrees the planet is currently on track to reach by 2100.

Reforestation, reducing food waste, phasing out fossil fuels, better refrigeration technology, and even better family planning could all have outsize impacts on the environment.

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"As a climate scientist, I can tell you the science is crystal clear - many of the solutions we need already exist, but the window to act is rapidly closing," Perkins-Kirkpatrick said.

"We're already living in a world where heatwaves are longer, hotter, and deadlier. Without bold action to slash emissions and adapt our cities, infrastructure, and health systems, we'll be pushing human bodies beyond their limits, especially as extreme heat and humidity converge in ways we've never experienced before.

"And that's just one example of the many impacts we have to prepare for if action isn't taken right now."

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