Human activity helped make 2025 third-hottest year on record, experts say

"Last year was the third hottest on record, scientists have said, with mounting fossil fuel pollution behind exceptional temperatures. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said 2025 had continued a three-year streak of extraordinary global temperatures during which surface air temperatures averaged 1.48C above preindustrial levels. Current rates of heating could breach the Paris agreement limit of 1.5C (2.7F) which is measured over 30 years to iron out natural fluctuations before the end of the decade, according to the EU's Copernicus climate agency."

"We are bound to pass it, said Carlo Buontempo, the director of the Copernicus climate change service. The choice we now have is how to best manage the inevitable overshoot and its consequences. The eight datasets published on Wednesday are based on billions of weather measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations. They were separately compiled by several organisations that monitor the global climate in Europe, the US, Japan and China, with minor variations in their results."

"The WMO's consolidated analysis found that 2025 was 1.44C hotter than the preindustrial period, when the large-scale destruction of nature and burning of coal, oil and gas began in earnest. Six datasets ranked 2025 as the third hottest year on record, while the other two ranked it as the second hottest. The hottest year on record since the mid-19th century is 2024, which was plagued by heatwaves and wildfires."

2025 continued a recent streak of exceptional global heat, with surface air temperatures averaging about 1.48°C above preindustrial levels and the WMO's consolidated analysis finding 2025 was 1.44°C hotter than preindustrial. Eight independent datasets compiled from billions of measurements placed 2025 as the second or third hottest year on record, following 2024. Current warming rates and recent natural factors mean the 1.5°C Paris limit, measured as a 30-year average, could be breached before the decade's end. Contributors include mounting fossil fuel emissions, reduced cooling aerosols, and El Nino-driven temporary warming of roughly 0.1°C.

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