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2025 was one of the three hottest years ever recorded. The years from 2015 to 2025 were the hottest eleven years on record.
The planet is now about 1.43 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial average.
The oceans are absorbing heat at a staggering rate — about eighteen times humanity’s annual energy use each year over the last two decades.
Sea levels remain near record highs.
And for people, the risks are immediate.
The IPCC estimates that 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in contexts highly vulnerable to climate change.
The World Health Organization projects that, between 2030 and 2050, climate change could cause about 250,000 additional deaths each year from undernutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress alone.
Yet the gap between promise and action remains wide.
UNEP says current policies put the world on track for 2.8 degrees Celsius of warming this century.
Even full delivery of new national climate pledges would still leave warming at around 2.3 to 2.5 degrees.
This is why June 5th matters.
World Environment Day was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 and is led by UNEP.
In 2026, World Environment Day is focused on climate action.
Azerbaijan will host the global commemoration in Baku, under the national campaign message:
“Inspired by Nature. For Climate. For Our Future.”
UNEP’s global call is simple:
Act #NowForClimate.
The message is not that the future is lost.
It is that choices still count.
Cleaner energy.
Stronger early warning systems.
Smarter cities.
Protected ecosystems.
Restored land.
Every action reduces risk.
Climate action is not only an environmental issue.
It is a health issue.
A development issue.
A justice issue.
And a survival issue.
This World Environment Day, June 5th, join the movement.
Act now.
Speak up.
Choose change.
For nature.
For climate.
For our future.
IPS UN Bureau
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