The pace and scale of progress to combat the climate crisis and limit global warming around the world is “alarmingly inadequate”, according to a new analysis.
The State of Climate Action 2025 report, published under Systems Change Lab warns the world is stalling on progress to limit average temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as outlined in the Paris Agreement, with none of its 45 indicators of climate action on track for 2030.
According to the study, while progress is heading the right direction for most the 45 indicators assessed, none are on track to achieve the 2030 Paris Agreement targets.
It claims the pace of change is “promising, albeit too slow” for six indicators, and well below the required speed for another 29.
And five indicators are headed in the wrong direction entirely, demanding an urgent course correction, and the remaining five lack sufficient data to even assess progress.
For example, electric vehicles’ share of global passenger car sales, previously the only indicator “on track”, has been downgraded to “off track.”
The report notes this is because while electric vehicles are still growing rapidly and made up a record 22% of global passenger car sales in 2024, up from 4.4% in 2020, growth has slowed in some major markets such as Europe and the United States.
But it also finds another indicator, private climate finance has been upgraded from “well off track” to just “off track”.
It claims funds climbed from roughly $870 billion in 2022 to a record $1.3 trillion in 2023, with individuals, businesses and investors, particularly in China and Western Europe, driving much of the gains.
Beyond the jump in private climate finance, the report also highlights how the global share of electricity from solar and wind has more than tripled since 2015, making solar the fastest-growing source of power in history.
And it states emerging technologies that were no more than ideas or small-scale pilot projects a decade ago, such as green hydrogen and technological carbon dioxide removal, could approach mainstream breakthrough with the right support.
The report is a joint effort between the Bezos Earth Fund, Climate Analytics, ClimateWorks Foundation, the Climate High-Level Champions and World Resources Institute.
Clea Schumer, a research associate at WRI and co-lead author of the report, said there is no doubt “we are largely doing the right things, we are just not moving fast enough” during an online press conference.
Schumer added while the share of global electricity generated by coal did drop slightly in 2024, total coal use hit a record high because of growing overall electricity demand.
She said coal remains by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector, along with gas.
“The trouble here is that a power system that relies on fossil fuels has huge, knock-on effects. Decarbonizing buildings, industry, and transport all depend on a decarbonized power grid.
“The message on this one is crystal clear. We simply will not limit warming to 1.5 degrees if coal use keeps breaking records. The world needs to phase out coal power generation more than 10 times faster than current rates, which is equivalent to shutting down nearly 360 average size coal plants every year and scrapping every project in the pipeline.”
And Kelly Levin, the chief of science, data and systems change at the Bezos Earth Fund, said while there has been much progress over the last 10 years, it is still “not nearly fast enough for what’s needed for 2030” and beyond, during the press conference.
Levin added climate change “continues to march on” as greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb, temperatures rise and fires decimating homes and ecosystems around the world.
“The question is not whether change can happen, it’s really whether we can make it happen in time,” said Levin.
