25 of 35 Vital Signs for Earth Have Reached Record Extremes, Scientists Warn

Climate-related disasters shown in the report. Top (L-R): Rescue of people stranded by floods in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil, 2024; Duda Fortes, Agência RBS); “Drought in Ethiopia due to rains unrealised” (Ethiopia, 2011; Oxfam East Africa; CC BY 2.0). Bottom: Firefighters contain a bushfire burning around the town of Aberdare (Australia, 2013; Quarrie Photography, Jeff Walsh, Cass Hodge; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0); The aftermath of Hurricane Matthew (Haiti, 2016; UN Photo / Logan Abassi; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

A new report from a team of international scientists has revealed harsh realities on Earth, with 25 of 35 planetary vital signs reaching record extremes. Without immediate action, scientists warn that these extremes could threaten life on Earth.

In the new study, published in the journal BioScience, scientists presented a stark look at the state of the climate crisis.

“We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled. We are stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis,” the scientists wrote.

Scientists use 35 different planetary vital signs to track the effects of climate change, including human population, global tree cover loss, meat production per capita, energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, ice mass changes, glacier thickness and more.

Twenty-five of these vital signs are already breaking records, including human population, coal and oil consumption, ruminant livestock populations, U.S. heat-related deaths, carbon emissions, methane levels, fossil fuel subsidies, ocean heat content changes, ocean acidification, glacier thickness and tree cover loss, among others.

According to the scientists, the human population is increasing by around 200,000 people per day, while ruminant livestock populations are increasing by around 170,000 animals per day. They also found that fossil fuel consumption increased 1.5% in 2023.

A separate report, the 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment, recently confirmed a decrease in tree cover, with 6.3 million hectares of land deforested in 2023.

Although the scientists did find that renewable energy consumption increased in 2023, renewables are still not overtaking fossil fuel demand enough to limit severe impacts of climate change.

Further, scientists warned that atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations have reached record highs, the average surface temperature of the Earth is at a record high, ocean acidity has broken records, ocean heating is at an all-time high, and global sea levels are at the highest amounts ever recorded. 

On the other hand, Greenland and Antarctic ice masses have reached record lows, and the average global glacier thickness is at an all-time low.

We are already seeing the devastating impacts of these vital signs hitting extremes, with a 117% increase in heat deaths in the U.S. from 1999 to 2023. Last year, areas across Asia experienced deadly heat waves that killed thousands of people, the report authors warned.

Now, the U.S. is facing two back-to-back hurricanes amid rising ocean temperatures, which have nearly doubled in the past two decades, a recent report from EU Copernicus found.

The authors of the report on the planetary vital signs are warning that governments need to take immediate actions to protect life on Earth. They have recommended actions and policies such as establishing a global carbon price, replacing fossil fuels with renewables, limiting greenhouse gas emissions, encouraging plant-based eating, protecting and restoring ecosystems, and reducing overconsumption and waste, especially by the wealthy.

“A large portion of the very fabric of life on our planet is imperiled,” said William Ripple, a professor at Oregon State University College of Forestry, which led the study. “Ecological overshoot, taking more than the Earth can safely give, has pushed the planet into climatic conditions more threatening than anything witnessed even by our prehistoric relatives. We’re already in the midst of abrupt climate upheaval, which jeopardizes life on Earth like nothing humans have ever seen.”

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