Climate change facts

What you need to know about climate change

We’re already seeing the effects of human-caused climate change. Fortunately, protecting nature can help humanity adapt to these impacts — and prevent climate change from getting even worse.

Share these facts about climate change:​

How much carbon dioxide is currently in the atmosphere?

In 2025, the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere was 430.2 parts per million1 — the highest in human history and more than 50 percent higher than pre-industrial levels.

What was the hottest year on record?

Analysis by NOAA shows that average global temperatures in 2024 were 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.28 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 20th-century average — beating the record set in 2023.2 This follows 15 consecutive months of monthly high temperature records. According to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2025 was the third-warmest year on record.3

How does deforestation affect climate change?

As much as 20 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans are due to deforestation4 — exceeding the emissions from all the passenger vehicles on the planet.5 Deforestation is the second-leading cause of climate change (after fossil fuels).

How much climate funding goes to nature-based climate solutions?

Tropical forests are extremely effective at absorbing and storing carbon from the atmosphere, providing at least a third of the total actions needed6 to prevent climate catastrophe. Yet nature-based solutions receive only 3 percent of all global climate funding.7

Is protecting and restoring nature good for the economy?

Scaling up natural climate solutions, such as protecting forests or restoring degraded forests, could create as many as 20 million new jobs.8 In total, ecosystem restoration can create nearly four times as many jobs as oil and gas production per dollar.9

What was the hottest day ever recorded?

July 22, 2024, was the hottest day overall since recording started in 1940.10 June 2024 was the warmest June on record in NOAA’s 175-year record.11

How many people are considered “vulnerable” to climate change?

As many as 3.6 billion people — 40 percent of the global population — live in areas of high vulnerability to climate change impacts such as droughts, floods, heat waves, extreme weather events and sea-level rise.12

Which ecosystems absorb and store the most carbon?

In a single square mile, an average mangrove forest can store — or “sequester,” as scientists say — as much carbon as the annual emissions of 90,000 cars. If the mangroves are destroyed, all that carbon is released into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.13

Protecting nature helps protect communities from natural disasters — and it can save billions.

For example: Mangrove trees, which thrive in coastal areas in the tropics, provide protection against flooding and storm surge on the order of US$ 65 billion per year.14 Mangroves are far more cost-effective than human-made solutions such as building seawalls.

How many nations have signed the Paris Agreement to fight climate change?

Since January 2026, 194 countries (193 states plus the European Union) have ratified or acceded to the 2015 Paris Agreement15. Together, they have agreed to limit global temperature rise and adapt to climate change — in part by protecting nature. (The United States has since withdrawn from the agreement.)

Related content

Calculate your carbon footprintFacts about deforestation
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References

  1. https://climatecosmos.com/climate-news/the-co2-milestone-we-never-wanted-to-hit-430-ppm-and-rising/
  2. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2025, January). Temperatures Rising: NASA Confirms 2024 Warmest Year on Record. https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/temperatures-rising-nasa-confirms-2024-warmest-year-on-record/
  3. https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-2025-was-third-hottest-year-record
  4. Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. (2023, February). What is the role of deforestation in climate change and how can ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation’ (REDD+) help?. The London School of Economics and Political Science. https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/explainers/whats-redd-and-will-it-help-tackle-climate-change/
  5. DeCicco, J., Fung, F., An, F. (2006). Global Warming on the Road: The climate impact of America’s automobiles. Environmental Defense. https://www.edf.org/sites/default/files/5301_Globalwarmingontheroad_0.pdf
  6. Correction to Supporting Information for Griscom et al., Natural climate solutions. (2019). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(7), 2776–2776. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900868116
  7. Buchner, B., Clark, A., Falconer, A., Macquarie, R., Meattle, C., Wetherbee, C. (2019). Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2019. Climate Policy Initiative. https://climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/global-landscape-of-climate-finance-2019/
  8. United Nations Environment Programme. (2022, December 8). Nature-based Solutions can generate 20 million new jobs, but “just transition” policies needed [Press release]. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/nature-based-solutions-can-generate-20-million-new-jobs-just
  9. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/global-climate-summary-june-2024
  10. Jaeger, J. (2021, October 18). Climate-friendly Investments Can Create More Jobs Per Dollar than Polluting Alternatives. World Resources Institute. https://www.wri.org/insights/green-investments-create-more-jobs-polluting-alternatives
  11. Copernicus Climate Change Service. (2024, July 25). New record daily global average temperature reached in July 2024. https://climate.copernicus.eu/new-record-daily-global-average-temperature-reached-july-2024
  12. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2022). Key Findings of the AR6 Report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability [Report]. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2022/06/WGII_AR6_Presentation_SB56.pdf
  13. Conservation International. Protect Our Oceans. https://www.conservation.org/act/protect-our-oceans Accessed: 2023-03-10
  14. Menéndez, P., Losada, I.J., Torres-Ortega, S. et al. The Global Flood Protection Benefits of Mangroves. Sci Rep 10, 4404 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61136-6
  15. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Paris Agreement - Status of Ratification. https://unfccc.int/process/the-paris-agreement/status-of-ratification. Accessed: 2026 May.