U.N. Climate Report Says Earth’s Energy Imbalance Is at a Record High

U.N. Report Warns Earth’s Energy Imbalance Is Growing

A new United Nations climate report says Earth is increasingly out of balance as more energy from the sun is being absorbed by the planet instead of reflected back into space.

Researchers found that the gap between incoming solar energy and the amount sent back into space is the largest since measurements began in 1960. According to the World Meteorological Organization’s *State of the Global Climate* report, that imbalance is driving additional heating in the oceans, atmosphere and frozen regions of the world.

The report says continued fossil fuel burning is locking heat into Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and land. Greenhouse gases released by human activity have reached their highest level in at least 800,000 years, reducing Earth’s reflectivity and its ability to release energy back into space.

Broader Measure of Climate Change

The World Meteorological Organization has previously documented changes in separate parts of the climate system, including surface temperatures, ocean heat, melting glaciers and sea level rise. This year, the report’s authors examined the planet’s energy imbalance as a broader indicator of the climate system’s overall condition.

“The energy imbalance gives you the full picture,” Karina Von Schuckmann, an author of the report and senior adviser at Mercator Ocean International, said at a news briefing.

Heat Trapped Like a Closed Room

Ashkay Deoras, a research scientist at Britain’s National Center for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading who was not involved with the report, compared the planet to a heated room with the windows shut.

“If you open the window, naturally, you will allow the hot air to escape,” he said. “But now what is happening is that, because of all these greenhouse gases, they are just trapping more and more heat. The planet is just not getting a chance to cool down.”