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The small town of Dandaji, Niger, sits on the edge of the Sahara Desert. It is a place where temperatures routinely top 45°C, blanketing residents in a suffocating, oven-like heat. 

Unless they’re in the town’s mosque.  

Surat, a bustling Indian city of 7 million people, sits at the meeting point of the Tapti River and the Arabian Sea, and its identity has been shaped by water. But the same geography that for centuries has driven Surat's growth is now threatening its future.

Chances are you know the climate is changing and that means trouble. But what exactly is driving the climate crisis, how bad are things now and how much worse could they get? To answer those questions, we dive into the data in the graphs that follow, which all come from recent reports by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).  

As heavy rains descended on the Nairobi, Kenya suburb of Ruai earlier this week, they quickly overwhelmed its streets, reportedly sweeping away three people standing alongside a road. 

The state of Andhra Pradesh in India may be famous for its stunning emerald-green slopes covered in lush vegetation.  Over the past few decades, however, the region has lost 30 to 40 per cent of its original forest cover, according to Dinesh Kumar, a local government official.  

Toybu Ahmed’s green rain jacket blends into the lush jungle as he climbs a steep slope enveloped in milky fog on the island of Anjouan in the Comoros. He moves carefully along narrow paths carved into the hillside. Around him, new trees rise from the soil – a fragile sign of recovery. 

Like many in the central Philippines village of Tabon, Analyn Fedelis makes a living fishing at night. That’s when many fish come closer to the surface and are easier to catch. Bright lamps help draw them toward the boat. For years, though, blackouts made the after-dark sojourn a challenge. 

Thi Qar, Iraq, 18 February 2026 – The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Iraqi national authorities today officially handed over a constructed wetland project addressing pollution and drought in Thi Qar, Iraq’s heat-stressed southern region. The project benefits 30,000 local residents through effective wastewater treatment and provides a sustainable nature-ba

Washington D.C., 17 December, 2025 - The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has announced USD 52.8 million for four new UN Environment Programme (UNEP)–led projects during its 70th Council meeting.

• The region is home to some of the world’s fastest-melting glaciers, crucial to the water cycle
• Between 2000 and 2020, glaciers were decimated by 77% in Azerbaijan and 24% in Georgia
• Greater monitoring, data-sharing and climate adaptation needed

Geneva, 11 December 2025 – Glaciers in the South Caucasus are melting faster than in almost any other mountain region on Earth, posing

In one of India’s most heat-vulnerable regions, Supriya Sahu is putting in place a suite of effective cooling regulations and nature-based adaptation measures to improve the health and safety of families. 

Residents of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state in southern India, often use the saying "hot, hotter, and hottest" to describe the temperature variations in their rapidly growing city.  

Between May and September this year, avalanches, landslides and flashfloods tore through mountain communities in Switzerland, Nepal and Pakistan, wiping out infrastructure and causing deaths and displacement.

Methane might only stay in the atmosphere for a short time, but its impact is powerful—and cutting it is one of the quickest ways to slow global warming.

As the world gathers in Belém, Brazil for the 30^th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), it marks the start of what observers say will be a decisive decade in the battle against climate change.   

Expected but sobering.  

That is how experts are describing the findings of a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report that says that global temperatures are on track to exceed the most ambitious end of the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.  

• Adaptation finance needs of developing countries estimated at over US$310 billion per year by 2035
• Glasgow Climate Pact goal of doubling international public adaptation finance to approximately US$40 billion by 2025 will not be met on current trends
• Report highlights progress with adaptation planning and implementation, but challenges remain

Nairobi, 29 October 2025 – 

Washington D.C., 16 October 2025 - The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), together with the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), have officially launched the

As climate change impacts grow, National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) are vital for helping countries identify and address their unique vulnerabilities and climate risks. Based on the latest science, NAPs provide action-oriented strategies and serve as investment plans to reduce climate threats.

• Climate transparency focuses on charting how well countries are living up to their pledges to counter climate change. 

• The process helps build trust among nations, which experts say is vital to making good on the Paris Agreement and ending the climate crisis. 

• Transparency has been credited with spurring nations to be more ambitious in their climate targets, though the world re

Farmer Mangasa Kijera still has vivid memories of the day in 2019 when a powerful storm rampaged through her village in eastern Gambia. “Everywhere was darkened with clouds as the winds tore through roofs and everything in its path," she says. 

The following morning, dawn light revealed the devastation: half of her roof was gone and 85 per cent of her groundnut crops were destroyed. 

When a heat wave blanketed Europe in early July, it did more than just make for insufferable days and sweat-soaked nights.

Antananarivo, 15 July 2025 – Madagascar has officially launched a landmark initiative aimed at enhancing climate resilience by restoring critical coastal ecosystems and improving livelihoods across vulnerable regions.

From March to May each year, dark smoke laden with harmful particulate matter and carbon dioxide drifts across the mountain forests of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) as frantic villagers try to beat back the flames tearing through the trees. 

Bonn, 13 June 2025 – Brazil and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today launched a new initiative to address extreme heat through sustainable cooling - Beat the Heat in Cities/Mutirão contra o Calor Extremo - while Italy pledged EUR 2 million in new funding for the Global Cooling Pledge, supporting action on a major contributor to