What are the top five environmental concerns for 2025?

Halfway through what the IPCC have dubbed the most consequential decade for climate action, what are the most pressing challenges for our stewardship of the environment in 2025?

We're smack-bang in the middle of what some have dubbed a 'polycrisis:' a set of interlocking social and environmental crises that both amplify and limit each other. 

Climate change is accelerating, the sixth mass extinction is picking up pace, and all around the world we still struggle to keep our water and our air free of pollution - yet, tackling air pollution may be what's accelerating climate change and this change is what's driving the sixth mass extinction.

How do we decide what needs our full attention?

Here at Envirotech Online, we're all about tracking and monitoring to develop the highest-resolution picture of what's going on in our environment; knowledge, after all, is power.

So, let's take a look at the most consequential trends, processes and substances shaping tomorrow's environment.

1. Climate tipping points

Tipping points in the Earth system represent thresholds beyond which climate change may accelerate due to feedback mechanisms, potentially leading to irreversible shifts in biogeophysical processes.

As 2025 progresses, the need for better observational systems and integrated modeling to detect early warning signals of tipping points becomes paramount.

Among the critical tipping elements requiring enhanced monitoring are:

• Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets: The accelerated loss of ice mass due to surface melting and subglacial hydrology dynamics necessitates improved satellite gravimetry (e.g., GRACE-FO) and ice-penetrating radar surveys.

• Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC): The risk of AMOC weakening demands increased deployment of deep-sea moorings and ARGO float networks to measure thermohaline changes in the Atlantic basin.

• Amazon Rainforest Dieback: Remote sensing (e.g., Sentinel-2, MODIS) must track deforestation, evapotranspiration rates, and CO2 fluxes to assess moisture recycling and biomass loss.

• Boreal Permafrost Thaw: Methane emissions from degrading permafrost should be quantified through in-situ flux towers and hyperspectral imaging (PRISMA, AVIRIS-NG) to refine emission projections in Earth System Models.

Future efforts should integrate real-time machine learning analytics with climate modeling to create actionable early warning systems, ensuring that policymakers and scientists can respond to incipient threshold exceedances.

2. Global average temperatures and La Niña

In 2023 and 2024, global mean surface temperature anomalies approached and, in some months, exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The expected full-year breach in 2025 marks a critical juncture in climate monitoring.

Key areas of concern include:

• Surface Temperature Anomalies: NASA-GISS, ERA5, and HadCRUT5 datasets must be closely analyzed for persistent deviations, particularly across high-sensitivity regions such as the Arctic and the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool.

• Heatwave Frequency and Intensity: Enhanced use of reanalysis products and mesoscale convective system tracking will refine attribution studies linking anthropogenic forcing to heat extremes.

• La Niña Variability: Oceanic Kelvin waves and Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) gradients will determine the magnitude of the coming La Niña event. Upgraded ENSO prediction models incorporating subsurface thermal anomalies and equatorial wave dynamics are crucial to forecasting its agricultural and hydrometeorological impacts.

Given the implications for food security, urban heat stress, and extreme weather amplification, integrating climate models with AI-driven pattern recognition will be crucial in refining predictive accuracy and enabling proactive climate adaptation measures.

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3. Agricultural pollution

Agricultural runoff, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus loading, remains a leading driver of eutrophication and hypoxic zones in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Advanced biogeochemical modeling and sensor-based monitoring are needed to mitigate these risks.

Key challenges and solutions include:

• Nutrient Runoff Monitoring: Deploying automated in-situ spectrophotometers (e.g., SUNA V2 Nitrate Sensor) in major river basins (e.g., Mississippi, Yangtze) will enhance real-time nutrient tracking.

• Hypoxic Zone Expansion: The Gulf of Mexico and Baltic Sea dead zones necessitate increased monitoring using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll-a sensors.

• Precision Agriculture and Fertilizer Efficiency: Advancements in variable rate application (VRA) technologies, coupled with real-time soil nutrient mapping (e.g., hyperspectral imaging and electrical conductivity sensors), can reduce excess fertilizer use.

• Manure and Livestock Waste Management: Satellite-derived ammonia (NH3) concentration maps (TROPOMI, CrIS) should be integrated into policy frameworks to regulate large-scale animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

A multi-tiered approach combining sensor-based monitoring, policy-driven nutrient management, and enhanced ecological modeling is essential to mitigating agricultural pollution impacts in 2025.

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4. Protecting biodiversity (natural capital)

The UK Chancellor’s recent dismissal of protections for habitats like bats and newts exemplifies a broader disregard for biodiversity's economic and ecological importance. Biodiversity is a cornerstone of natural capital, which underpins economic activities through ecosystem services such as pollination, water purification, and carbon sequestration.

• Global Biodiversity Observation Networks (GEO BON): Integrating remote sensing (LiDAR, SAR) with community science databases (e.g., iNaturalist, GBIF) will refine species distribution modeling (SDM) accuracy.

• Acoustic and eDNA-based Monitoring: The deployment of passive acoustic sensors for avian and cetacean monitoring, alongside environmental DNA (eDNA) assays in aquatic systems, will provide non-invasive biodiversity assessments.

• Trophic Rewilding for Carbon Sequestration: Herd animals such as bison, wildebeest, and elephants play a key role in carbon sequestration by maintaining grassland ecosystems, reducing fire risks, and enhancing soil carbon storage.

While some argue that habitat protections increase construction costs, ecological economics underscores that biodiversity conservation strengthens long-term economic resilience and sustainability.

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5. Changing flows of carbon

Accurate quantification of carbon sequestration is critical for verifying progress towards net-zero targets. In 2025, enhanced monitoring of both natural and engineered carbon sinks will be a priority.

Key areas of focus include:

• Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration:

  • Improved satellite-based vegetation biomass monitoring using GEDI LiDAR and MODIS-derived vegetation indices.

  • Refinement of soil organic carbon models integrating microbial respiration rates from in-situ flux measurements.

• Ocean Carbon Uptake:

  • Expanded use of Biogeochemical-Argo floats for measuring CO2 partial pressure and ocean acidification parameters.

  • Blue carbon ecosystem assessments leveraging high-resolution remote sensing for mangrove, seagrass, and salt marsh carbon stocks.

• Trophic Rewilding as a Climate Solution:

  • Large-scale reintroductions of bison, elephants, and other key species to promote ecosystem balance and long-term carbon sequestration.

  • Integration of rewilding projects into carbon credit markets and conservation incentive programs.

Achieving precise carbon sequestration monitoring requires a synergistic approach combining remote sensing, field measurements, and machine learning analytics to enhance accuracy and verification standards.

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Why monitoring is essential

The environmental challenges of 2025 demand robust, high-resolution monitoring across multiple domains. From climate tipping points to biodiversity loss and carbon sequestration, integrating real-time sensor networks, AI-driven predictive modelling, and high-frequency remote sensing will be vital for informed policy responses.

Developing open-access, interoperable environmental datasets will further enhance global collaboration, ensuring that science-based decision-making remains at the forefront of sustainability efforts in the coming years.

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