Earth has now reached its highest temperature in 125,000 years, with the “State of the Climate Report 2025” sounding the alarm on the planet’s critical condition.

The report highlights unprecedented losses in tree cover due to wildfires, surging fossil fuel consumption, and record-breaking ocean temperatures. In 2024, the global average temperature exceeded pre-industrial levels by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

To put this in perspective, 125,000 years ago, Neanderthals were still prevalent, early Homo sapiens were beginning their migration out of Africa, and large prehistoric creatures like woolly mammoths and giant wombats roamed the Earth.

Despite these alarming developments, Professor Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a co-author of the report from the ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather and the Australian National University, remains hopeful.

She emphasizes that while many global indicators are concerning, “every fraction of warming we manage to prevent will avert a worse climate catastrophe.” Her message is clear: there’s still time to make a difference.

“What we urgently need in Australia are real actions to rapidly reduce emissions and serious climate mitigation and adaptation strategies,” Perkins-Kirkpatrick said.

“If we fail to plan for the reality of a hotter climate with more high-impact weather events, we’ll be staring down escalating disasters that will swamp our emergency services, strain our economy, and destabilise communities here and across the region.

“The longer we wait, the faster we head toward climate-fuelled chaos, and that’s a risk we simply can’t afford.”

The report identified high-impact solutions that would do more than half the work to limit warming to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels – compared to the 3.1 degrees the planet is currently on track to reach by 2100.

Reforestation, reducing food waste, phasing out fossil fuels, better refrigeration technology, and even better family planning could all have outsize impacts on the environment.

“As a climate scientist, I can tell you the science is crystal clear – many of the solutions we need already exist, but the window to act is rapidly closing,” Perkins-Kirkpatrick said.

“We’re already living in a world where heatwaves are longer, hotter, and deadlier. Without bold action to slash emissions and adapt our cities, infrastructure, and health systems, we’ll be pushing human bodies beyond their limits, especially as extreme heat and humidity converge in ways we’ve never experienced before.

“And that’s just one example of the many impacts we have to prepare for if action isn’t taken right now.”