Our planet is absorbing more solar energy than it is reflecting. Triff / shutterstock Heatwaves across Europe and south Asia have dominated the news recently. But these events are really a surface expression of more fundamental changes that are affecting our planet: the Earth itself is accumulating heat faster than ever before. We lead a large international team of scientists who come together every year to provide an update on the state of the climate system. This year, we find that Earth’s ene