Europe’s Copernicus data shows 2025 ranked third hottest, capping three consecutive years over 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Scientists warn emissions cuts lag, worsening heatwaves, storms, floods and wildfires worldwide today.
The world remained dangerously hot in 2025, ranking as the third warmest year on record and keeping global temperatures above the critical 1.5 degree Celsius warming level for the longest period ever, European scientists said on Wednesday.
Data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts shows that 2023, 2024 and 2025 are now the three hottest years since records began. The year 2025 was only 0.01 degree Celsius cooler than 2023, while 2024 remains the hottest year ever recorded.
For the first time, the planet experienced a three-year period with average global temperatures more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period, the benchmark scientists use to measure global warming.
Every fraction of a degree matters, said Samantha Burgess, climate lead at ECMWF, warning that rising temperatures are already making extreme weather events more frequent and severe.
Britain’s Met Office confirmed that its records, dating back to 1850, also rank 2025 as the third warmest year. The World Meteorological Organization is expected to release its official global figures later.
Scientists warned that governments are failing to cut greenhouse gas emissions fast enough, making it likely that the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degree Celsius target will be crossed before 2030, much earlier than expected when the deal was signed in 2015.
“We are bound to pass it,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, adding that “attention must now focus on limiting damage to societies and natural systems.”
The impacts are already being felt across the world. Wildfires in Europe produced record emissions in 2025, while climate change intensified disasters such as Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean and deadly monsoon floods in Pakistan that killed more than 1,000 people.
Scientists said that crossing the 1.5 degree level, even temporarily, is expected to bring longer and more intense heatwaves, stronger storms and heavier floods.
Despite growing climate risks, climate science is facing political resistance in some countries. However, scientists remain united that human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels, are driving global warming and increasingly threatening lives, livelihoods and ecosystems worldwide.
