The year 2025 is on track to be one of the hottest years on record, possibly tying for second place with 2023. According to Europe’s climate agency, 2025 is slightly cooler than 2024, which set a record by exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that 2025 has been 1.48 degrees Celsius above the average from 1850 to 1900, aligning closely with the target set by the Paris climate agreement in 2015.
Despite the record-setting temperatures in 2024 and the close proximity of 2025 to the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, scientists need to analyze data from many years before confirming whether the Paris Agreement’s target has been breached. However, the trend is concerning, with the three-year average for 2023-2025 on track to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius for the first time. This highlights the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate rising temperatures.
Record heat has become more common than record cold, with the hottest years occurring within the last decade. The recent temperature report follows the UN meeting on the Paris Agreement, where countries avoided addressing fossil fuels, disappointing climate advocates. The fact that 2025 was exceptionally hot is alarming, especially considering it was a La Niña year, a climate pattern that typically cools global temperatures. Despite this, weak and short-lived La Niña conditions led to hotter temperatures in 2025 than some past El Niño years.
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