UN climate reports warn of 1.37°C warming in 2025 and propose global wealth tax for climate justice

A new scientific study involving over 70 scientists from 17 countries reports that human‑caused warming reached 1.37 °C in 2025, making it the third warmest year on record. The research highlights record greenhouse‑gas concentrations, a doubling of the Earth’s energy imbalance since the 1970s, sea‑level rise of about 23 cm since 1901, and a surge in marine heatwaves—65 days in 2025, more than three times the 1991 level. These changes are already intensifying coastal flooding, threatening livelihoods and ecosystems, and amplifying extreme weather such as stronger hurricanes and heavier rains.

Separately, the World Inequality Lab’s 2026 Global Justice Report, authored by Thomas Piketty and colleagues, proposes a “Global Justice Fund” financed by a progressive global income and wealth tax. Tax rates would rise from 0 % at ten times average adult wealth to 20 % at five thousand times that level, with proceeds distributed as per‑capita dividends to fund health, education and climate‑infrastructure projects worldwide. The proposal frames climate mitigation and inequality reduction as mutually reinforcing goals.

Both reports underscore the urgency of coordinated international action to curb emissions, protect vulnerable communities, and restructure global fiscal policies to support sustainable development.