2025 Ranked Third Hottest Year on Record as Climate Monitors Warn of Accelerating Warming
Global climate monitoring agencies have confirmed that 2025 was the third hottest year ever recorded, continuing an alarming trend of rising temperatures with little indication of near-term relief. According to leading climate data providers, the planet has now experienced its eleven warmest years consecutively, underscoring the accelerating pace of global warming.
New assessments released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the US-based research group Berkeley Earth place 2024 as the hottest year on record, followed by 2023, with 2025 close behind. Together, the findings paint a stark picture of a climate system under increasing strain.
For the first time, average global temperatures over a three-year period have exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Copernicus reported that the 2023–2025 average crossed this symbolic threshold, a development that scientists have long warned could significantly heighten the risks of extreme weather, sea-level rise, and ecosystem disruption.
Researchers at Berkeley Earth described the recent temperature spike as unusually intense. They noted that warming observed between 2023 and 2025 suggests a possible acceleration in the rate at which the planet is heating, beyond what would typically be expected from long-term greenhouse gas trends and natural climate variability alone.
The 1.5-degree target is central to the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius while pursuing efforts to keep it at 1.5 degrees. However, global leaders have increasingly acknowledged the difficulty of meeting this goal. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres previously warned that breaching the threshold may now be unavoidable, though rapid emission cuts could still limit the duration and severity of the overshoot.
Copernicus has cautioned that the 1.5-degree level could be reached permanently by the end of this decade, far earlier than previously projected. In 2025, global temperatures averaged around 1.47 degrees above pre-industrial levels, following approximately 1.6 degrees in 2024.
The World Meteorological Organization reported that while some datasets ranked 2025 as the second warmest year, the majority placed it third. Despite minor differences, all datasets confirmed that recent years have been exceptionally hot, even with the presence of cooling La Niña conditions.
Climate impacts were widespread. Berkeley Earth estimated that around 770 million people experienced record-high annual temperatures where they live. No region recorded a record-cold annual average, while Antarctica saw its warmest year ever and the Arctic its second hottest.
Looking ahead, scientists warn that 2026 is unlikely to bring respite. Copernicus officials noted that if El Niño conditions emerge, the coming year could again challenge temperature records. Berkeley Earth expects 2026 to rank among the four warmest years since modern record-keeping began in the mid-19th century.
The findings arrive amid slowing progress on emissions reductions in several developed countries, adding urgency to calls for coordinated global action. Climate scientists stress that while natural factors play a role, human-driven greenhouse gas emissions remain the primary force behind the relentless rise in global temperatures.
