By Blessing Nweke
Last year was the third-warmest in modern history, underscoring the accelerating pace of global warming and the narrowing window to avert its worst effects, according to new data released by Copernicus, the European Union’s climate change monitoring service.
The finding continues a stark trend: The past 11 years have been the 11 warmest ever recorded. In 2025, the average global temperature was about 1.47 degrees Celsius (2.65 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the 1850–1900 preindustrial baseline, the period scientists use as a reference point before large-scale fossil fuel burning began.
“Annual surface air temperatures were above average across 91% of the globe,” Samantha Burgess, strategic lead on climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates Copernicus, said at a news conference. She emphasized that the primary driver of record heat remains the buildup of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel use.
The data adds to concerns that the world is drifting beyond the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, in which countries pledged to try to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Global temperatures have now approached or exceeded that level for three consecutive years.
“Exceeding a three-year average of 1.5 degrees above preindustrial levels is a milestone that none of us wished to see,” said Mauro Facchini, head of Earth observation at the European Commission. “The urgency of climate action has never been more important.”
U.S. climate agencies, including NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are expected to release their own 2025 assessments this week. While methods differ, scientists say the trajectory is unmistakable: The planet is warming rapidly and dangerously.
The grim European data comes as the Trump administration moves to roll back U.S. climate policies, withdraw from international agreements and boost fossil fuel production. Meanwhile, the consequences of warming are intensifying. In 2025, the world experienced 23 billion-dollar weather disasters, causing 276 deaths and $115 billion in damage, highlighting how rising heat is fueling more extreme and costly events worldwide.
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