Third-hottest year on record shows planet still heating up, with no break ahead

The world just logged its third-warmest year ever, and the data suggests there’s little chance of relief anytime soon.

Global temperatures in 2025 averaged 1.47°C above pre-industrial levels, according to new figures released Wednesday by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. That makes last year the third-hottest on record, capping an unbroken run in which the past 11 years are now the warmest ever measured.

What stands out isn’t just how hot 2025 was, but how narrowly it trails the record years before it. Scientists say 2025 was only 0.13°C cooler than 2024, the hottest year on record, and a barely measurable 0.01°C below 2023, the second-warmest.

For the first time, average global temperatures over a three-year period, from 2023 to 2025, exceeded the 1.5°C warming limit set by the Paris Agreement. That threshold was meant to represent a guardrail against the most dangerous impacts of climate change. Crossing it, even temporarily, underscores how far the planet has already drifted.

Independent data from the UK Met Office backs up the European findings, also ranking 2025 as the third-warmest year on record.

“The long-term increase in global annual average temperature is driven by the human-induced rise in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” said Met Office climate scientist Colin Morice.

More data is expected later Wednesday from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which track climate trends in the United States. Their figures are unlikely to change the overall picture.

Nearly 200 countries committed in 2015 to keeping long-term warming below 1.5°C, but that goal now looks increasingly out of reach. The United Nations has warned repeatedly that without rapid emissions cuts, overshooting that limit is inevitable.

Political decisions have only complicated the outlook. The United States, the world’s second-largest emitter, announced last year that it would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, one of President Donald Trump’s first acts after returning to office. China, the world’s biggest polluter, has pledged for the first time to eventually cut emissions outright — but climate experts say its targets fall far short of what’s needed.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in October that surpassing the 1.5°C threshold is now unavoidable, urging governments instead to focus on adaptation and early warning systems to protect vulnerable communities.