From Record Heat to COP30: Global and India Climate Snapshot 2025

From Record Heat to COP30: Global and India Climate Snapshot 2025

1. From 2015 to 2025, every year ranked among the eleven warmest in a 176-year record; 2023, 2024, and 2025 were the three warmest years observed globally on record.

2. January to August 2025 mean near-surface temperature reached 1.42°C above the pre-industrial average, sustaining exceptional warmth and reinforcing the decade’s persistent global temperature anomaly across multiple observations worldwide.

3. Heat-trapping greenhouse-gas concentrations and ocean heat content, both record-high in 2024, continued rising through 2025, signalling persistent planetary energy imbalance and ongoing accumulation of heat in oceans globally.

4. Arctic sea-ice extent after the 2025 winter freeze was the lowest on record, while Antarctic sea-ice extent tracked well below average for much of the year overall worldwide.

5. Long-term sea-level rise continued in 2025, despite a small temporary dip attributed to naturally occurring factors, indicating underlying thermal expansion and ice-loss drivers remained dominant across oceans globally.

6. Ocean heat content in 2025 exceeded the record 2024 values, confirming continued warming of upper and deeper layers that influences marine ecosystems, sea level, and extreme weather intensity.

7. In 2025, climate extremes—devastating rainfall, flooding, brutal heat, and wildfires—produced severely cascading impacts on lives, livelihoods, and food systems across regions, economies, and public services worldwide.

8. Texas suffered its most significant inland flood disaster in nearly 50 years, underscoring intensified rainfall extremes and the exposure of inland communities, transport corridors, and utilities to flooding.

9. European and East Mediterranean heatwaves set record temperatures in Spain, Portugal, and Turkey, with records documented in parts of France and Germany, stressing health systems and energy demand.

10. South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province faced severe storm-driven flooding in 2025, causing widespread disruption and demonstrating how intense rainfall events can overwhelm drainage, roads, housing, and response capacity.

11. South Korea experienced the largest known wildfires in its history in the country’s east, showing how hot, dry conditions can accelerate fire spread, smoke impacts, evacuations, and losses.

12. COP30 met in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 22 November 2025, during the NDC update cycle; the host framed it as an “Implementation COP” for measurable action delivery.

13. COP30 structured talks around six priority axes—energy/transport/industry, forestry, cities, agriculture, people, and finance/technology—selecting about 30 priorities and organising an unprecedented series of debates across themes officially.

14. Fossil-fuel wording became the central COP30 impasse; draft text omitted phase-out language, the meeting extended past 21 November, and efforts to advance earlier commitments to move away stalled.

15. India stated: emission intensity declined over 36% since 2005; non-fossil sources exceed half of installed power capacity at about 256 GW; the relevant 2030 target was achieved early.

 

 

Must Know Terms :

1.Cryosphere

• Components include glaciers, ice sheets (Greenland/Antarctica), sea ice, seasonal snow, and frozen ground/permafrost.
• Global glaciers lost 267 ± 16 gigatonnes of ice per year on average during 2000–2019 (≈21 ± 3% of observed sea-level rise).
• Newer global synthesis reports glacier loss rates rising from −231 ± 23 Gt/yr (2000–2011) to −314 ± 23 Gt/yr (2012–2023); 2023 recorded 548 ± 120 Gt loss (≈1.51 ± 0.33 mm/yr sea-level equivalent).
• IPCC AR6 assesses glacier mass loss (excluding ice-sheet peripheral glaciers) at 240 ± 40 Gt/yr for 2006–2019.
• Ice sheets (Greenland + Antarctica) contributed 21.0 ± 1.9 mm to global mean sea level between 1992 and 2020; loss rates accelerated from ~105 Gt/yr (1992–1996) to ~372 Gt/yr (2016–2020).
• Total complete loss of current land-ice reservoirs would raise global mean sea level by about 65.6 ± 1.8 m.

2.Thermosteric

• Thermosteric sea level change is the sea-level rise from thermal expansion of seawater due to warming (temperature-driven density decrease).
• IPCC AR6 gives global mean thermosteric sea-level (ThSL) rise rate of 0.89 mm/yr (range 0.69–1.10) for 1993–2018 (full-ocean-depth estimate).
• Over the same broad modern period, total global mean sea level rise accelerated to 3.7 mm/yr for 2006–2018, meaning thermosteric is a major but not sole contributor alongside land-ice melt and land-water storage changes.

3.Stocktake

• The “global stocktake” is legally defined in Article 14: it assesses collective progress toward the Agreement’s purpose and long-term goals, covering mitigation, adaptation, and means of implementation/support, “in the light of equity and the best available science.”
• Timing rule: first stocktake in 2023 and every five years thereafter (unless changed by Parties).
• COP28 decision text (first stocktake outcome) includes a call for global actions consistent with: tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy-efficiency improvement rates by 2030, and “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems” in a just, orderly and equitable manner.

4.Disinformation

• Disinformation is false or misleading information shared with the intention to deceive; misinformation is false information shared without intent to deceive.
• A hard regulatory threshold used in platform governance: under the EU Digital Services Act, “Very Large Online Platforms” are designated at ≥45 million monthly users in the EU, triggering stricter systemic-risk obligations (used in multiple Commission designations).

5.Biofuels

• Main transport biofuels: ethanol (petrol blending) and biodiesel/HVO (diesel blending), with newer categories like SAF for aviation.
• IEA projects the share of biofuels in total liquid fuel transport demand rises from 5.6% (2023) to 6.4% (2030), reaching ~215 billion litres/year by 2030 (main case).
• India policy timeline: the ethanol blending target of 20% in petrol was advanced to Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2025–26 (policy update path reflected in official policy summaries).
• India blending trajectory reported in parliamentary/ministerial updates carried by major outlets: 12.06% (ESY 2022–23), 14.60% (ESY 2023–24), and 17.98% in ESY 2024–25 up to 28 Feb 2025; ethanol supplied to OMCs up to Feb 2025 reported as 278.88 crore litres.

6.CBDR-RC

• CBDR-RC is treaty text in UNFCCC Article 3(1): Parties should protect the climate system “on the basis of equity” and in accordance with “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities,” with developed countries taking the lead.
• Paris Agreement Article 2(2) re-states CBDR-RC with an added qualifier: implementation reflects equity and CBDR-RC “in the light of different national circumstances.”
• CBDR-RC is operationally used in negotiations for: (i) who leads in mitigation, (ii) scale and terms of finance (grants vs loans/concessionality), (iii) technology development/transfer, and (iv) timelines and reporting expectations differentiated by capability.

MCQ

1. The period 2015–2025 is described as:
A) The eleven coolest years in a 176-year record
B) The eleven warmest years in a 176-year record
C) The ten warmest years in a 150-year record
D) The twelve warmest years in a 200-year record

2. The mean near-surface temperature anomaly for January–August 2025 was stated as:
A) 0.42°C above pre-industrial
B) 1.12°C above pre-industrial
C) 1.42°C above pre-industrial
D) 2.14°C above pre-industrial

3. Which two indicators were noted as record-high in 2024 and still rising in 2025?
A) Methane leakage and desertification index
B) Greenhouse-gas concentrations and ocean heat content
C) Aerosol optical depth and river discharge
D) Volcanic forcing and solar irradiance

4. After the 2025 winter freeze, which statement matches the reported polar sea-ice signal?
A) Arctic sea ice highest on record; Antarctic near average
B) Arctic near average; Antarctic highest on record
C) Arctic lowest on record; Antarctic well below average
D) Arctic well below average; Antarctic highest on record

5. The “small and temporary dip” in sea level during 2025 was attributed to:
A) Artificial ocean pumping
B) Naturally occurring factors
C) Permanent reversal of warming
D) Sudden tectonic uplift of seabeds

6. Ocean heat content in 2025 was described as:
A) Below 2024 values
B) Equal to 2024 values
C) Exceeding record 2024 values
D) Unchanged since 2019

7. The Texas event was characterised as:
A) The largest coastal storm surge in 20 years
B) The most significant inland flood disaster in nearly 50 years
C) The longest drought in US history
D) The biggest tornado outbreak in a decade

8. Record heat during 2025 was documented in Spain, Portugal, and Turkey, and also in parts of:
A) Norway and Sweden
B) France and Germany
C) Italy and Switzerland
D) Belgium and Netherlands

9. Flooding in South Africa in 2025 severely affected:
A) Gauteng Province
B) Eastern Cape Province
C) Limpopo Province
D) Northern Cape Province

10. South Korea’s 2025 wildfires were described as:
A) The first wildfires recorded in the country
B) The largest known wildfires the country has ever seen
C) Limited to a single protected forest reserve
D) Occurring mainly in the western coastal belt

11. COP30 was held in Belém, Brazil, during:
A) 10–22 November 2025
B) 01–12 December 2025
C) 20–30 October 2025
D) 05–15 January 2026

12. COP30 was dubbed the “Implementation COP” primarily because it emphasised:
A) Freezing all new climate pledges
B) Scientific discovery over diplomacy
C) Action to fulfil past pledges
D) Rewriting the UNFCCC treaty text

13. Which set correctly lists the six priority axes noted for COP30?
A) Oceans; Mountains; Space; Trade; Defence; Culture
B) Energy/transport/industry; Forestry; Cities; Agriculture; People; Finance/technology
C) Shipping; Aviation; Rail; Roads; Pipelines; Mining
D) Health; Education; Tourism; Sports; Media; Housing

14. The central sticking point that extended COP30 beyond November 21 was:
A) Disagreement over nuclear phase-out language
B) Disagreement over methane measurement standards
C) Disagreement over including fossil-fuel phase-out language
D) Disagreement over banning carbon markets

15. India’s statement highlighted that non-fossil sources account for more than half of total electric power installed capacity at approximately:
A) 156 GW
B) 206 GW
C) 256 GW
D) 306 GW