The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) announced on Tuesday that 2025 is projected to be the world's second or third-warmest year on record, potentially falling just behind the record set in 2024. This highlights the accelerating rate of climate change.
2025 is forecast to be the second or third hottest year since records began, according to C3S data. This year will likely complete the first three-year period where the average global temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level.
C3S strategic lead Samantha Burgess noted that these milestones "reflect the accelerating pace of climate change." Extreme weather continues globally, including Typhoon Kalmaegi, which killed over 200 people in the Philippines, and Spain's worst wildfires in three decades, which scientists linked to climate change.
The main cause of the clear global warming trend is documented as greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. The last 10 years have been the 10 warmest since records began, per the World Meteorological Organization.
The data follows the recent COP30 climate summit, where governments failed to agree on substantial new measures to reduce emissions, citing strained geopolitics and efforts by some countries to weaken CO2-cutting measures.
The world has not technically breached the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target (which is averaged over decades), but the U.N. has stated the goal is no longer realistically achievable and urged faster emissions cuts. C3S records date back to 1940 and are cross-checked with global temperature records from 1850.
