KATHMANDU, MARCH 19
A new seasonal analysis by Climate Central has found that more than one in six people worldwide experienced temperatures strongly influenced by climate change every day between December 2025 and February 2026.
The analysis highlights the widespread impact of human-caused climate change, particularly in the form of extreme heat, across most parts of the globe during the three-month period.
Using Climate Central's Climate Shift Index (CSI)-a tool that quantifies the influence of climate change on daily temperatures-researchers assessed the extent to which global warming increased temperatures worldwide.
According to the findings, 2.5 billion people across 124 countries experienced at least 30 days of temperatures strongly influenced by climate change during the period.
The study further shows that climate change was responsible for every single day of "risky heat" in 47 countries, referring to temperatures considered dangerous to human health.
Nearly 225 million people experienced 30 or more days of risky heat linked to climate change, with 81 percent of those affected living in Africa.
The analysis states that human-induced warming-primarily driven by the burning of coal, oil and methane gas-has increased both the frequency and intensity of extreme heat globally.
It notes that in several regions, climate change did not merely contribute to rising temperatures but fully accounted for the most dangerous heat days recorded during the period.
The findings underline that climate change is no longer a distant concern but a present and measurable force shaping daily weather patterns for billions of people worldwide.
Dr Kristina Dahl, Vice President for Science at Climate Central, said the analysis demonstrates that climate change is already driving extreme heat globally.
"This analysis makes clear that climate change is not a future problem - it is a present-day driver of extreme heat around the world," she said.
"Millions of people experienced a month or more of dangerous levels of heat that were made significantly more likely by climate change. In many regions, climate change didn't just make heat worse - it fully accounted for the most dangerous heat days."
She added that the world has also seen intensified storms, record rainfall and worsening drought conditions in recent months, describing these extremes as clear signals of how fossil fuel emissions are disrupting livelihoods globally.
