NEW YORK, 25th September, 2026 (WAM) -- UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Thursday that accelerating sea-level rise is putting coastal cities, communities and economies at growing risk, noting that around 770 million people live in coastal areas less than five metres above the high-tide line.
Addressing the UN General Assembly's High-Level Meeting on Sea-Level Rise, Guterres said global mean sea level rose by nearly six millimetres in 2024, the largest annual increase ever recorded, and warned that the pace is accelerating.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), even under the most favourable scenario, sea levels are projected to rise by up to half a metre by the end of the century, while without drastic emissions reductions, the rise could reach one metre.
Guterres described sea-level rise as a “threat multiplier”, affecting economies, trade, infrastructure and food systems, erasing cultural heritage and identity, fuelling instability and threatening the territorial integrity of some States.
He called for urgent action to tackle the root causes of the climate crisis, including limiting the 1.5°C temperature overshoot, rapidly cutting global emissions, tripling renewable energy capacity, improving energy efficiency and accelerating a just transition away from fossil fuels.
According to the UN, the rate of global mean sea-level rise increased from 2.1 millimetres per year in 1993-2002 to 4.7 millimetres per year in 2015-2024, with rising seas increasingly exposing communities and economies to coastal flooding, erosion, saltwater intrusion and the loss of ecosystems and biodiversity.