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18-12-2025
LONDON: The world could lose thousands of glaciers each year over the coming decades unless global warming is curbed, leaving only a fraction remaining by the end of the century, scientists warn.
A scientific study published on Monday in Nature Climate Change warned that unless governments take action now, the planet could reach a stage of “peak glacier extinction” by midcentury with up to 4,000 melting each year.
About 200,000 glaciers remain in the world, and about 750 disappear each year. That rate could rise more than fivefold if global temperatures soar by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels and accelerate global warming, according to the report, which predicted only 18,288 glaciers would remain by the end of the century.
Even if governments meet their pledges to limit warming to 1.5C (2.7F) under the Paris Agreement, the world could still end up losing 2,000 glaciers a year by 2041. At that pace, a little more than half of the planet’s glaciers would be gone by 2100.
That best case scenario appears unlikely. The United Nations Environment Program already warned last month that warming is on track to exceed 1.5C in the next few years. It predicted that even if countries meet promises they have made in their climate action plans, the planet will warm 2.3C to 2.5C (4.1F to 4.5F) by the end of the century.
Monday’s study was published at the close of the UN’s International Year of Glacier Preservation with the findings intended to “underscore the urgency of ambitious climate policy”.
“The difference between losing 2,000 and 4,000 glaciers per year by the middle of the century is determined by near-term policies and societal decisions taken today,” the study said.
Coauthor Matthias Huss, a glacier expert at ETH Zurich University, took part in 2019 in a symbolic funeral for the Pizol glacier in the Swiss Alps.
“The loss of glaciers that we are speaking about here is more than just a scientific concern. It really touches our hearts,” he said.
Meanwhile, global climate commitments are on track to limit global warming by as much as 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 degrees Fahrenheit) this century, far below what is needed to tackle the climate crisis despite a raft of pledges, the United Nations has warned. In its annual Emissions Gap Report on Tuesday, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) said the world would exceed the 1.5C (2.7F) mark, an internationally agreed-upon target set under the Paris Agreement “very likely” within the next decade.
If countries do as they have promised in their climate action plans, the planet will warm 2.3 to 2.5C (4.1 to 4.5F) by 2100, the report said. However, with the policies currently in place, Earth is expected to be 2.8C (5F) hotter in that time span.
“Nations have had three attempts to deliver promises made under the Paris Agreement, and each time they have landed off target,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen “while national climate plans have delivered some progress, it is nowhere near fast enough, which is why we still need unprecedented emissions cuts in an increasingly tight window, with an increasingly challenging geopolitical backdrop.”
The findings come just days before world leaders are set to converge for a UN climate conference in Brazil, COP30, where the global failure so far to tackle the crisis will loom large.
Global emissions grew 2.3 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year, an increase driven by India followed by China, Russia and Indonesia, Tuesday’s report found. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
