Key facts
- Climate breakdown likely destabilized a glacier causing catastrophic floods in Nepal and Tibet.
- Over 1,300 people were killed and more than 5,000 remain missing.
- The collapse involved 110 million cubic meters of snow and ice falling from Langtang Lirung mountain.
- July and August 2026 were the warmest on record locally, reaching 5C above the 30-year average before the collapse.
- The freezing threshold in the Himalayas has risen by about 100 meters per decade since the 1980s.
- Nepal has requested financial support from the UN loss and damage fund.
Climate breakdown likely weakened the glacier that collapsed, causing catastrophic floods in Nepal and Tibet last month that killed more than 1,300 people, according to the first scientific study of the disaster. Researchers identified unusually warm conditions before the glacier’s collapse, which sent an avalanche of 110 million cubic meters of snow and ice into the valley below, triggering flash floods.
Communities in Nepal are paying with their lives for a crisis driven by fossil fuel emissions thousands of miles away, said Dr. Friederike Otto, a climate science professor at Imperial College London, which carried out the study. "When warming destabilises the roof of the world, no amount of local adaptation can fully shield vulnerable people downstream from this scale of destruction. Without much faster action to transition to zero fossil fuel emissions we will inevitably see more disasters of this scale occurring in the years to come."
More than 1,300 people were killed and over 5,000 remain missing after a massive section of overhanging glacier and rock measuring roughly 200,000 square meters fell from Langtang Lirung mountain on August 26. The debris dropped about 1,400 meters, registering as an earthquake and sparking a freezing flood that careened downriver at speeds exceeding 110 mph. The flood swept away families, homes, settlements, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure.
The study found that in the region where the collapse happened, climate breakdown has caused about 2C of warming since pre-industrial times, and about 1.5C of warming in July and August specifically. July and August 2026 were the warmest on record locally, reaching 5C above the 30-year average in the days before the collapse. The freezing threshold in the Himalayas has risen by about 100 meters per decade since the 1980s, weakening mountain slopes. Warming temperatures had already driven substantial glacier recession, removing stabilizing ice. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2015 may also have contributed to slope failure, though its specific contribution could not be confirmed.
Nepal has filed a formal request with the UN loss and damage fund for financial support, requiring proof of a link to the climate crisis. The country’s foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, has demanded that top emitting nations such as China and India accept shared responsibility. Madhab Uprety, senior technical advisor for the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, said only aggressive cuts to global emissions could address the losses and damages faced by vulnerable frontline communities.