World entering ‘age of climate extremes’: UN chief

Antalya The world is entering a new reality where climate extremes are the norm, the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned on Monday (November 9, 2026), urging leaders at the COP31 climate conference in Turkiye to “get serious”. “A supersized El Nino is colliding with a planet already superheated by manmade climate change,” the UN secretary general said in a statement.

“We have entered a new age of climate extremes.” As leaders gathered in Antalya for the UN climate summit, Mr. Guterres called on them to “get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and delivering the finance and protection vulnerable countries need”.

His statement came as the UN’s World Meteorological Organization released a report indicating that 2026 has continued a streak of exceptional global temperatures, melting ice and rising sea levels. Each of the past 12 years have been among the hottest 12 years on record, the agency said, with this year expected to be among the hottest ever.