2025 was third hottest year on record, trailing only 2024 and 2023 as heat surge continues

"Scientists around the world have released their data for 2025, revealing it was the third year in a row with temperatures more than 1.4C above pre-industrial levels. Last year was 1.41C above the baseline of 19th century temperatures, behind 2024's record heat, and 2023, according to the Hadcrut5 dataset collated by the UK Met Office, UEA and Ncas, while the Europe's Copernicus Era5 analysis put temperatures at 1.47C above pre-industrial levels."

"Professor Tim Osborn, director of UEA's Climate Research Unit, said the previous two years had been made even hotter by a natural climate variation in the Pacific Ocean, the El Nino pattern, which added around 0.1C to global temperatures. That weakened in 2025 - revealing a clearer picture of underlying, human-driven warming, he said. "Sharp and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions would slow, and eventually stop, further human-caused changes in the world's climate," he said."

"Climate scientist Colin Morice, of the Met Office, said: "The long-term increase in global annual average temperature is driven by the human-induced rise in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. "Fluctuations in the year-to-year temperature largely result from natural variation in the climate system." Scientists confirmed the primary driver of global warming is human activity, mostly burning fossil fuels."

Global temperature data for 2025 show it was the third consecutive year with temperatures more than 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels. HadCRUT5 placed 2025 at about 1.41°C above a 19th-century baseline and a three-year average of 1.47°C above 1850–1900. Copernicus ERA5 reported 2025 at 1.47°C and a three-year average above 1.5°C, and identified the past 11 years as the warmest on record. A weakened El Niño in 2025 revealed clearer underlying, human-driven warming. Greenhouse gas emissions are identified as the primary driver, with long-term warming nearing the 1.5°C Paris threshold and increasing climate risks.

Read at Irish Independent