Important Reports and Indices in News (2024–2025): Complete List

• Released by: IUCN
• Key Highlights

• At least 16,425 of the 47,282 species assessed are at risk of extinction. 
• The number of threatened trees is more than double the number of all threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians combined.

• Islands are particularly vulnerable, with the highest proportion of threatened trees due to forest clearance for urban development and agriculture.

• • Released by: World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
  • Biannual report
  • Based on Living Planet Index
• Key Highlights

• • Catastrophic 73% decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations in just 50 years (1970-2020)
  • The steepest decline is in freshwater populations (85%), followed by terrestrial (69%) and then marine (56%).
  • Regional disparities in wildlife population declines are stark, with Latin America & the Caribbean experiencing a dramatic 95% decline, followed by 76% in Africa, 60% in Asia-Pacific, 39% in North America, and 35% in Europe & Central Asia.
  • The primary threats to wildlife include habitat loss and degradation, which are the most commonly reported dangers to species globally, followed by overexploitation, invasive species, and disease.

• • Released by: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• Key Highlights

• • Global forest Cover: 4.14 billion hectares — nearly 32% of global land area, equivalent to 0.5 hectares per person. Nearly half of the world’s forests are in the tropics.
  • Top 5 forested countries: Russia (832.6 M ha), Brazil (486 M ha), Canada (368.8 M ha), USA (308.8 M ha), China (227 M ha). These five account for 54% of the total global forest area.
  • Global deforestation rate: 10.9 million hectares per year — deforestation has slowed, but remains too high.
  • Regional Trend: Asia is the only region showing a net increase in forest area (1990–2025), led by China and India.
  • India: Ranked 9th globally in total forest area (up from 10th).

• • Released by: UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
• Key Highlights

• • Finance Gap: $216 billion annual shortfall
  • 91% of global forest finance comes from public sources
  • India among top 15 global recipients of international public forest finance in 2023.
  • Domestic forest expenditure of India:  $7.1 billion — 3rd highest globally, after: China ($19.4 billion), United States ($11.7 billion)

• • Released By: IUCN
  • Provides a global assessment of the health and management of over 200 natural and mixed World Heritage Sites.
  • It classifies sites into four categories based on conservation outlook: Good, Good with some concerns, Significant concern, Critical.
• Key highlights

• • Only 57% of natural World Heritage sites now have a positive conservation outlook, down from 62% in 2020 – showing a decline in overall health.
  • India: Sites categorised as “Significant Concern”: Western Ghats (Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu), Manas National Park, Assam, Sundarbans National Park, West Bengal
  • Sites rated “Good with Some Concerns”: Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area, Kaziranga National Park, Keoladeo National Park, Nanda Devi & Valley of Flowers National Parks
  • Site rated “Good”: Khangchendzonga National Park, Sikkim 

• • Released by: World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
• Key Highlights

• • PM2.5 pollution levels have fallen in North America, Europe, and East Asia, but remain dangerously high in South Asia and some high-latitude regions due to industry and wildfires.
  • Shipping emission controls (MARPOL VI) improved air quality and health outcomes, but reduced sulfate aerosols have slightly weakened their cooling effect, contributing to additional warming.
  • Pollutants like ground-level ozone and black carbon cause warming, while reflective aerosols (e.g., sulfates) provide temporary cooling; climate change also alters pollution patterns.

• • Released by: World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
• Key Highlight of Report

• • Only one third of river basins had normal conditions in 2024
  • All glacier regions worldwide report losses due to melt for the third straight year.
  • Many small-glacier regions have already reached or are about to pass the Peak Water Point→the stage at which meltwater from a glacier or an ice sheet reaches its maximum annual flow due to accelerated melting, after which the flow will decline as the glacier shrinks.

• • Released by: UNFCCC
• Key Highlights

• • NDCs submitted to date would cut global emissions by only 2.6% from 2019 levels by 2030, up slightly from 2% last year—this falls drastically short of the 43% cut scientists say is required by 2030 to keep the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target within reach.
  • Global GHG emissions in 2030 levels would still be 15.9% higher than 2010 levels, and 4.7% higher than 2019 levels.

• • Released by: UNEP
• Key Highlights

• • The scale of adaptation needs for developing countries is enormous, estimated in the order of US $215 billion to US $387 billion per year by 2030.
  • Actual international public adaptation finance flows are far too low — only around US $28 billion in 2022, which is just a fraction of what’s required

• • Released by: UNEP
• Key Highlights

• • Under current policies warming is projected to reach 2.8°C by 2100.
  • To limit warming to 2°C: global emissions must fall 35% below 2019 levels by 2035.

• • Released by: Germanwatch (an independent development, environmental and human rights organization based in Bonn and Berlin).
  • Backward-looking index ranking the human and economic toll of extreme weather, with the most affected country ranked highest.
• Key highlights

• • Over 832,000 people died and nearly 5.7 billion were affected by more than 9,700 extreme weather events between 1995 and 2024.
  • Economic losses due to these events exceeded $4.5 trillion (inflation-adjusted) globally during this period.
  • India  ranked 15th in CRI Rank 2024 and 9th in CRI Rank 1995-2024, facing repeated floods, cyclones, droughts, and increasingly severe heatwaves.

• • Released by: Global Carbon Project (GCP)
• Key Highlights

• • India’s fossil fuel CO₂ emissions are estimated to increase from 3.19 billion tonnes (2024) to 3.22 billion tonnes (2025).
  • Globally, fossil CO₂ emissions are expected to rise 1.1% to 38.1 billion tonnes, while land-use CO₂ emissions may fall, keeping global emissions roughly flat at 42 billion tonnes.
• Global Carbon Project (GCP)
  • Its projects include global budgets for three dominant greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O)—and complementary efforts in urban, regional, cumulative, and negative emissions.
  • Founded as a partnership among the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, the World Climate Programme, the International Human Dimensions Programme and Diversitas, under the umbrella of the Earth System Science Partnership. 

• • Released by: International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI)
• Key highlights

• • Ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica has quadrupled since the 1990s
  • Global glacier melt is accelerating, with 273 gigatons lost annually (2000–2023)
  • Over 210,000 km² of permafrost has thawed per decade.

• • Released by: Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute, and Climate Action Network (CAN International).
• Key Highlights

• • Top three positions are left empty because no country performs well enough to qualify as “very high”.
  • Denmark is ranked 4th, followed by the UK and Morocco.
  • India ranked 23 from a high performer to a medium one.

• • Released by: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
• Key Highlights

• • Cooling demand is expected to triple by 2050, with air conditioners already emitting 1bn tonnes of CO₂ a year.
  • Delhi, Karachi, Shanghai, Dhaka, Manila, Seoul, and other such densely built Asian megacities could face an additional 2-7 degrees Celsius spike in local temperatures on top of global warming, by the end of century

• • Released by: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• Key highlights

• • October 2024–September 2025 marked the highest Arctic surface air temperatures since 1900.
  • Atlantification is weakening ocean stratification and accelerating sea-ice melt; winter sea ice hit a record-low maximum in 2025, with 95% loss of multi-year ice since the 1980s.
  • Thawing permafrost is polluting over 200 Alaskan rivers with iron and acids, threatening ecosystems and water supplies.
  • Sustained warming is driving Arctic greening, with increased tundra vegetation productivity.

of Carbon Pricing

2025

• • Released by: World Bank group
• Key Highlights

• • Carbon pricing now covers around 28% of global emissions.
  • Carbon pricing mobilized over $100 billion for public budgets in 2024.

Index (ETI), 2025

• • Released by: World Economic Forum (WEF)
  • Assesses national progress in shifting from fossil fuels to clean energy systems.
  • Based on two pillars—System Performance (energy security, equity, sustainability) and Transition Readiness (policies, infrastructure, investment, etc.).
• Key Highlights

• • Top performers: Sweden leads the rankings, followed by Finland, Denmark, and Norway.
  • India’s position: Fell from 63rd in 2024 to 71st in 2025.

Report (SoGA) 2025

• Released by: the Health Effects Institute (HEI) and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), USA.
  Key Highlights
  • Air pollution was linked to nearly 2 million deaths in 2023, accounting for about 52% of the global burden.
  • India recorded the third-highest ozone exposure levels worldwide.