European scientists say the world endured its third-warmest year on record in 2025, with no significant cooling expected in 2026.
Data released on Wednesday by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts showed that average global temperatures in 2025 were 1.47 degrees Celsius (2.52 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, marking the 11th consecutive year of record-breaking warmth.
According to the intergovernmental weather monitor, 2025 was just 0.13°C (0.234°F) cooler than 2024—the warmest year ever recorded—and 0.01°C (0.018°F) cooler than 2023, the second-warmest year.
For the first time, the data showed that average global temperatures over a three-year period from 2023 to 2025 exceeded the 1.5°C (2.7°F) threshold set under the Paris Agreement.
The UK Met Office separately confirmed that its own records also ranked 2025 as the third-warmest year on record.
“The long-term rise in global annual average temperature is being driven by human-induced increases in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere,” said Colin Morice, a climate scientist at the Met Office.
NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are expected to release their latest global temperature assessments later on Wednesday.
Nearly 200 countries committed in 2015 to limit long-term global warming to 1.5°C under the Paris climate accord, but continued temperature increases have cast serious doubt on achieving that goal.
The United States, the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, announced early last year that it would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, one of President Donald Trump’s first actions in office.
China, the world’s largest polluter, announced its first-ever target to cut emissions outright in September, though climate experts widely criticised the plan as insufficient.
In October, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the planet would inevitably overshoot the 1.5°C threshold, while stressing the urgent need for early warning systems to protect vulnerable communities worldwide.
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