The Global Climate Indicators are a set of  parameters that describe the changing climate without reducing climate change to only temperature. They comprise key information for the most relevant domains of climate change: temperature and energy, atmospheric composition, ocean and water as well as the cryosphere. 

These Global Climate Indicators have been identified by scientists and communication specialists in a discursive process led by GCOS during workshops and scientific panel meetings and have been finally endorsed by WMO. They form the basis of the annual WMO Statement of the State of the Global Climate, which is submitted to the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In addition, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Commission uses the Indicators implemented the Global Climate Indicators for their annual "European State of the Climate".

These seven headline indicators are complemented by a set of subsidiary indicators that provide additional information and allow a more detailed picture of the changes in the respective domain. It is important to note, that the Global Climate Indicators are not limited to specific datasets or certain storylines.