Global Climate Highlights 2025
Copernicus data show that 2025 was the third warmest year on record1, only marginally (0.01°C) cooler than 2023, and 0.13°C cooler than 2024 – the warmest year on record. The past 11 years have been the 11 warmest on record. Global temperatures from the past three years (2023-2025) averaged more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level (1850–1900). This marks the first time a three-year period has exceeded the 1.5°C limit. Air temperature over global land areas was second warmest, whilst the Antarctic saw its warmest annual temperature on record and the Arctic its 2nd warmest.
In 2025, according to ERA5, the global surface air temperature was 1.47°C above the pre-industrial level, following 1.60°C in 2024, the warmest year on record. Utilising several methods, the current level of long-term global warming is estimated to be around 1.4°C above the pre-industrial level. Based on the current rate of warming, the Paris Agreement’s limit of 1.5°C for long-term global warming could be reached by the end of this decade – over a decade earlier than predicted based on the rate of warming at the time the agreement was signed.