April 9, 2026 / 5:47 AM EDT / AFP
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has reclassified the emperor penguin from “near threatened” to “endangered,” saying climate change has pushed the Antarctic icon closer to extinction. The move underscores the threat to species that depend on sea ice as global warming reshapes the frozen continent.
Emperor penguins rely on sea ice to live, hunt and breed. Earlier break-up and loss of that ice have driven population declines. The IUCN said changes in sea ice driven by climate change are expected to halve the emperor penguin population by the 2080s. Philip Trathan, a member of the IUCN expert group, said human-induced climate change “poses the most significant threat to emperor penguins.”
The IUCN Red List is the world’s most comprehensive record of extinction risk for plants, animals and fungi, with categories ranging from “least concern” to “extinct.” Species listed as “endangered” are two steps from “extinction in the wild.”
The assessment also moved the Antarctic fur seal to endangered after its population fell by more than 50% since 1999. The southern elephant seal was up-listed from “least concern” to “vulnerable” following declines linked to a deadly contagious pathogen.
How climate change is endangering emperor penguins
Warming oceans and shrinking sea ice are altering food webs. The IUCN noted that rising ocean temperatures push krill to deeper, colder waters, reducing prey availability for predators such as seals and penguins.
Emperor penguins, the largest penguin species with distinctive orange-gold neck markings, breed on sea ice in winter. Males incubate eggs on their feet under a brood pouch, and sea ice provides critical habitat for chicks and for moulting before birds become waterproof. Less stable sea ice, earlier spring break-up and record low sea-ice extent since 2016 have disrupted these life stages.
Satellite studies show about 20,000 adult emperor penguins—roughly 10% of the population—disappeared between 2009 and 2018. “This species is closely associated with sea ice and ice packs,” said Christophe Barbraud of France’s CNRS. He warned that the decreased sea-ice extent since 2016–2017 means the species will struggle to survive without it.
Trathan described emperor penguins as “a sentinel species that tell us about our changing world and how well we are controlling greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change.”