Environment

FutureGuessr visualises alarming climate change scenarios for iconic landscapes by 2100

Tuesday, 28 October 2025 5:09AM UTC

An innovative online game, FutureGuessr, presents AI-generated images of global locations as they might appear in 2100 under unchecked carbon emissions, highlighting the stakes of climate change through striking visualisations of familiar landscapes transformed by wildfires, droughts, and sea-level rise.

Climate change, long warned as one of the greatest threats to human existence, is projected to drastically alter the planet within the next 75 years. An innovative online game, FutureGuessr, offers a striking visualization of these changes by presenting AI-generated images of numerous global locations as they might appear in 2100 if carbon emissions continue unabated. Created by climate scientists, the game aims to bring the abstract and often distant concept of climate change into sharper, more relatable focus by showing familiar places transformed by flooding, wildfires, droughts, heatwaves, and storms.

Among the numerous locations featured, the game depicts North America’s largest intact forest ecosystem—spanning 270 million hectares and crucial for carbon storage and air purification—as a scorched, fiery landscape devastated by frequent wildfires and invasive species. Experts warn that such wildfires could release millions of tonnes of CO2, further weakening natural carbon sinks and accelerating global warming. This scenario reflects recent data showing an alarming increase in forest fires across World Heritage forests, particularly in high-latitude areas such as North America and Siberia, where annual fire-related tree cover loss has more than doubled since the early 2000s.

Another poignant image from FutureGuessr is of a UNESCO World Heritage oasis, currently lush with palm trees and clear waters, depicted as a barren desert engulfed by sand due to rising temperatures and prolonged drought. Such desiccation threatens local agriculture and forces inhabitants to abandon their homes. This aligns with broader scientific findings highlighting the increasing vulnerability of World Heritage natural sites to extreme climate events, which under high-emission scenarios, are expected to be almost universally affected by the end of the century.

The game also portrays Europe’s picturesque countryside, known for its rolling hills, historic architecture, vineyards, and olive groves, as a cracked, reddish landscape suffering from diminished rainfall and intense heatwaves. This threatens not only the region’s fertility and aesthetic charm but also its economic staples such as wine production. Agriculture’s viability under these conditions is of serious concern, demonstrating the far-reaching impacts of even modest temperature rises.

Similarly, a vast national park renowned for its ancient conifer forests is shown transformed into a "landscape of ashes and scorched trunks" due to uncontrollable wildfires intensified by hotter, drier climates. Air pollution from smoke poses additional health risks. Scientific assessments warn that nearly half of this forest could be lost as early as 2050 if current trends persist.

Urban areas face dire futures as well. The game’s vision of a major Asian coastal megacity illustrates how melting glaciers and rising seas will submerge large parts of the city by 2100, making them largely uninhabitable due to saltwater intrusion and soil erosion. This scenario reflects ongoing concerns about the vulnerability of densely populated coastal regions to sea-level rise.

An agricultural region in Europe, already one of the driest on the continent, is depicted as a hostile desert devoid of orchards or fields, marked by cracked soil swept by scorching winds. Such conditions will strip the land of its resources and people, undermining food security and livelihoods.

These visualizations are underpinned by extensive scientific research. UNESCO reports that World Heritage forests play a critical role in climate mitigation by absorbing approximately 190 million tonnes of CO2 annually. Nonetheless, some sites have turned into net carbon sources due to human pressures and climate impacts, underscoring the need for enhanced protection. Moreover, recent studies indicate that fires have caused the loss of around 4.5 million hectares of forest since 2001, with the severity and frequency of such events rising sharply, particularly in vulnerable high-latitude regions.

The creators of FutureGuessr stress that showing recognizable places bearing the brunt of climate change could be a powerful tool for climate action advocacy. By fostering engagement through gameplay, the project hopes to stimulate serious conversations about solutions and the urgent need to curb emissions.

In sum, the game's chilling projections serve as a stark reminder of the extensive and varied impacts of climate change on natural ecosystems, agriculture, urban centres, and global heritage sites. They underscore the crucial importance of immediate and sustained efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, protect vulnerable landscapes, and support the resilience of communities worldwide.

📌 Reference Map:

Paragraph 1 – ^[1] (Daily Mail), ^[6] (Phys.org), ^[7] (GlobeTrender)
Paragraph 2 – ^[1] (Daily Mail), ^[2] (UNESCO), ^[3] (UNESCO), ^[4] (UNESCO)
Paragraph 3 – ^[1] (Daily Mail), ^[5] (Down To Earth)
Paragraph 4 – ^[1] (Daily Mail)
Paragraph 5 – ^[1] (Daily Mail), ^[2] (UNESCO)
Paragraph 6 – ^[1] (Daily Mail)
Paragraph 7 – ^[1] (Daily Mail), ^[3] (UNESCO), ^[4] (UNESCO), ^[5] (Down To Earth)
Paragraph 8 – ^[1] (Daily Mail), ^[6] (Phys.org), ^[7] (GlobeTrender)

Source: Noah Wire Services

More on this

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15224521/What-world-look-like-2100-you-guess-location-is.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 - Please view link - unable to able to access data
https://www.unesco.org/en/news/unprecedented-fires-fueled-climate-change-threaten-iconic-world-heritage-forests - This article discusses how climate change-induced fires are threatening World Heritage forests. Since 2001, approximately 4.5 million hectares of forest have been lost across these sites, with fires responsible for around 75% of that loss. The majority of fire-related tree cover loss occurred in high-latitude forests, primarily across North America and Siberia. The severity of these events is escalating, with fire-related tree cover loss averaging approximately 240,000 hectares per year since 2020, more than twice the annual average recorded in the early 2000s.
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/world-heritage-forests - This publication provides an overview of World Heritage forests, highlighting their role as carbon sinks. Covering 69 million hectares, these forests absorb approximately 190 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. However, despite their protected status, some forests have become net carbon sources due to anthropogenic stressors, including land use and climate change. The article emphasizes the importance of ensuring strong and sustained protection of these forests to maximize their value in mitigating climate change.
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/new-study-how-unesco-world-heritage-forests-play-vital-role-mitigating-climate-change - This press release presents the first scientific assessment of greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration by forests in UNESCO World Heritage sites. The study found that these forests play a vital role in mitigating climate change by absorbing 190 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. However, ten of the 257 sites emitted more carbon than they sequestered due to pressures from human activity and climate change, highlighting the need for enhanced protection and management of these sites.
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/climate-change/natural-world-heritage-sites-made-more-vulnerable-to-extreme-weather-by-climate-change-study-80856 - This article reports on a study that found natural World Heritage sites are increasingly vulnerable to extreme climate events due to climate change. Under a high-emission scenario, almost all 250 sites studied would be exposed to extreme climate events by the end of the century. The study highlights the need for urgent action to protect these sites from the escalating threats posed by climate change.
https://phys.org/news/2025-10-online-game-life-earth.html - This article introduces FutureGuessr, an online game that allows players to visualize the potential impacts of climate change on familiar locations by the year 2100. The game uses AI-generated images to depict scenarios such as flooding, wildfires, and droughts, based on data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It aims to make the abstract concept of climate change more tangible and engaging for the public.
https://globetrender.com/2025/08/28/futureguessr-online-guessing-game-simulates-climate-change/ - This article discusses FutureGuessr, an online game that simulates the potential impacts of climate change by the year 2100. Inspired by GeoGuessr, the game presents AI-generated 360° environments depicting the effects of a 2.7°C global warming scenario. It showcases two versions of the same location—one depicting a catastrophic future and another highlighting a resilient alternative—based on IPCC data and climate science, aiming to make climate projections more relatable and engaging.

Noah Fact Check Pro

The draft above was created using the information available at the time the story first emerged. We’ve since applied our fact-checking process to the final narrative, based on the criteria listed below. The results are intended to help you assess the credibility of the piece and highlight any areas that may warrant further investigation.

Freshness check

Score: 6

Notes: The narrative references a recent online game, FutureGuessr, which visualises climate change impacts by 2100. The earliest known publication date of similar content is August 28, 2025, from GlobeTrender. The Daily Mail article was published on October 28, 2025, indicating a freshness of approximately 60 days. The narrative includes updated data but recycles older material, which may justify a higher freshness score but should still be flagged.

Climate change
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FutureGuessr
Environmental impact