Glaciers across the globe are melting faster than at any time in recorded history. A landmark 2025 international study—coordinated by the Glacier Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (GlaMBIE) and involving 35 research teams analyzing over 230 regional datasets—found that glaciers (excluding Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets) lost 6,542 ± 387 billion tonnes of ice from 2000 to 2023, equivalent to about 5% of their total volume at the millennium's start. The melt rate accelerated markedly, rising 36% from the 2000–2011 period to 2012–2023. This rapid loss spans all continents, with particularly severe proportional declines in smaller regions: Central Europe, for instance, shed nearly 39% of its glacier ice over these two decades. Beyond vanishing landscapes, retreating glaciers disrupt vital freshwater supplies for billions, acting as natural reservoirs that regulate seasonal river flows for agriculture, hydropower, and drinking water—especially in arid downstream areas like Central Asia and the Andes. Their meltwater has already contributed around 18 mm to global sea-level rise since 2000. If all remaining glaciers were to vanish entirely (an extreme scenario), sea levels could rise by an additional ~40–70 cm (estimates vary based on inclusion of peripheral ice). Glaciers adjust slowly to temperature changes, so substantial future loss is already committed even if warming halts today. However, swift emissions reductions can still curb the extent of melting: limiting warming preserves more ice, safeguarding water security and mitigating sea-level rise for vulnerable communities. [“Widespread acceleration of global glacier mass loss.” Nature, 2025]