GENEVA : According to the WMO’s State of the Climate 2025 report, ice mass levels across key regions, including Iceland and the Pacific coasts of North America, saw an unprecedented decline during the year. While the losses did not surpass the dramatic drop recorded between 2022 and 2023, the overall ice mass balance in 2025 ranked among the five lowest levels since records began in 1950.

The report highlights the growing impact of glacier melt on rising sea levels. Between 1993 and 2018, approximately 21 percent of global sea level rise was attributed to melting glaciers. However, ocean warming remained the largest contributor at 42 percent. Meanwhile, the melting of major ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica contributed 15 percent and 8 percent respectively.

Further insights, based on satellite imagery from NASA’s Terra satellite, show that glaciers worldwide lost an average of 267 billion tons of ice annually between 2000 and 2019. Alarmingly, the rate of ice loss has accelerated over time, rising from 227 billion tons per year between 2000 and 2004 to 298 billion tons per year between 2015 and 2019.