A new report from the World Resources Institute (WRI) reveals that global climate action remains dangerously off track, with none of the 45 key indicators assessed currently aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target.
The “State of Climate Action 2025” report, released ahead of COP30, offers a sobering assessment of progress across major sectors and calls for an urgent acceleration of efforts this decade.
Published under the Systems Change Lab initiative, the report assesses progress in high-emitting sectors, including power, buildings, industry, transport, forests and land, and food and agriculture, as well as in carbon removal technologies and climate finance.
Despite some positive trends, the report finds that more than three-quarters of indicators are moving in the right direction, but at a pace far too slow to meet climate goals.
The report also identifies five indicators that are moving in the wrong direction entirely, including rising passenger car usage and stagnation in steel decarbonization. Meanwhile, six indicators show promising but still inadequate progress, such as the surge in private climate finance, which rose from $870 billion in 2022 to $1.3 trillion in 2023, and the continued growth of electric vehicle sales—though momentum has slowed in key markets outside China.
Twenty-nine key climate indicators are currently well off track, with many requiring at least a twofold—and in some cases, more than a fourfold—acceleration to meet global targets. Deforestation continues to pose a major challenge, accounting for over 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and endangering biodiversity.
The global phase-out of coal is progressing too slowly, jeopardising decarbonisation efforts across multiple sectors. Climate finance remains inadequate, as mobilisation efforts fall short and public fossil fuel financing has risen by $75 billion annually since 2014.
To meet the 2030 and 2035 climate targets, the report underlined the urgent need for transformative action. Coal must be phased out ten times faster than current rates, which would require retiring approximately 360 coal plants each year.
Deforestation must be curtailed at a pace nine times greater than today’s, with current forest loss compared to the disappearance of 22 football fields every minute. Additionally, climate finance must increase by nearly $1 trillion annually to match two-thirds of the public fossil fuel finance recorded in 2023.
