The planet is on track to record its second hottest year in history in 2025, tying with 2023 following an unprecedented peak in 2024, according to Europe’s global warming monitor
The Copernicus Climate Change Service data confirms that global temperatures are set to surpass 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – the limit deemed safer under the 2015 Paris Agreement, reports RTE.
Average temperatures increased by 1.48C between January and November, or “currently tied with 2023 to be the second-warmest year on record”, the service’s monthly update said
“The three-year average for 2023-2025 is on track to exceed 1.5C for the first time,” Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at Copernicus, said, reports RTE.
“These milestones are not abstract – they reflect the accelerating pace of climate change and the only way to mitigate future rising temperatures is to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Ms Burgess added
UN Secretary General António Guterres warned in October that the world would not be able to limit global warming below 1.5C in the coming years, reports RTE.
Last month was the third warmest November on record at 1.54C above pre-industrial levels, with the average surface air temperature reaching 14.02C, according to Copernicus
Even such seemingly small temperature rises are already destabilising the climate, making storms, floods and other disasters more severe and frequent, reports RTE.
“The month was marked by a number of extreme weather events, including tropical cyclones in Southeast Asia, causing widespread, catastrophic flooding and loss of life,” the monitor said
The Philippines experienced back-to-back typhoons in November that killed around 260 people, while Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand faced major flooding, reports RTE.
The global average temperature for the northern hemisphere autumn, from September to November, was also the third highest on record after 2023 and 2024
“Temperatures were mostly above average across the world and especially in northern Canada, over the Arctic Ocean, and across Antarctica,” the monitor said, noting notable cold anomalies in northeastern Russia, reports RTE.
Copernicus calculates its figures using billions of satellite and weather readings on land and at sea, with data extending back to 1940
Human emissions of planet-warming gases, mainly from large-scale fossil fuel burning since the industrial revolution, have raised global temperatures, reports RTE.
Nations agreed at the UN’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai in 2023 to transition away from fossil fuels, but progress has slowed since then
The COP30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, concluded last month with a deal that avoided a new explicit call to phase out oil, gas and coal after objections from fossil fuel-producing nations, reports RTE.
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