This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including a huge new report examining overlooked and emerging sources of microplastics and the reclassification of two Antarctic species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

—

1. Emperor Penguin and Antarctic Fur Seal Downgraded to ‘Endangered’ Due to Climate Change

Two Antarctic species – the emperor penguin and Antarctic fur seal – were downgraded to “Endangered” on the Red List of Threatened Species, the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungus and plant species.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global authority on the status of the natural world, which compiles the list, made the announcement on Thursday. It said climate change was the main reason behind the reclassification.

The emperor penguin was downgraded from “Near Threatened” to “Endangered” based on projections that its population will halve by the 2080s owing to changes in sea-ice. Meanwhile, the Antarctic fur seal has moved from “Least Concern” to “Endangered” following a nearly 50% decrease in its population between 1999 and 2025 caused by a reduction in food availability.

Full story here.

2. Baby Formula, Paint, Breast Implants: Report Highlights ‘Overlooked’, ‘Emerging’ Sources of Microplastic Exposure

A new major report reveals the staggering extent of daily microplastic exposure, describing an inescapable “microplastic storm” stemming from a variety of overlooked and newly identified sources.

Researchers mapped microplastic release across five categories: outdoor sources, indoor environments, children’s products, healthcare and personal care, and food and drink. They described microplastics as “pervasive, abundant, invisible, chemical-mixture-carrying pollutants … lurking in every corner of our lives, starting before birth.”

The report, commissioned by Netherlands-based Plastic Soup Foundation, reviews over 350 peer-reviewed studies examining human exposure to microplastics to compile a comprehensive database of sources of these pollutants.

While some sources are obvious, such as foods and drinks coming in plastic packaging, others are sometimes overlooked. In clinical settings, for instance, the very tools used to save lives are inadvertently introducing plastic into the human body.

The domestic environment poses its own set of challenges, as common children’s products like building bricks and play mats continuously shed particles of PET, PVC, and polypropylene into the air and floor dust. Because children breathe more air relative to their body weight and spend more time in contact with settled dust, their proportional exposure is significantly higher than that of adults.

Full story here.

3. Near-Record Sea Temperatures in March Pave Wave for Return of El Niño and Abnormally Hot Year

Sea surface temperatures approached historic highs once again in March, paving the way for the return of a warming weather pattern known as El Niño later this year.

The average sea surface temperature last month was 20.97C, the second-highest value on record for the month, according to the European Union Copernicus Climate Change Service’s (C3S) monthly bulletin published Friday. The climate monitor said this reflects “a likely transition toward El Niño conditions.”

Several climate centres, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said last month that El Niño is likely to form during the summer months and persist through the end of 2026 and potentially longer, with a one-in-three chance of becoming “strong” in the winter months.

Full story here.