Overview

• The Global Tipping Points Report 2025, compiled by about 160 scientists from 87 institutions in 23 countries, concludes warm‑water coral reefs have crossed a thermal tipping threshold.
• The assessment cites repeated mass bleaching since 2023 and puts the likelihood of large‑scale reef loss at over 99 percent even under a 1.5°C warming limit.
• Other Earth system elements are flagged as near risk zones, including a potential Amazon rainforest shift around 1.5–2°C, uncertainty‑bound ice‑sheet thresholds, and possible AMOC weakening or collapse near 2°C.
• Authors frame the findings as a call for rapid emissions cuts ahead of November’s COP30 in Belém, noting potential positive tipping points from cheaper renewables and accelerating electric‑vehicle adoption.
• Some researchers urge caution about sweeping conclusions for reefs and note that IPCC syntheses remain more conservative, with ongoing debate over corals’ adaptive capacity.