The average global temperatures in 2025 were a little below the record levels of 2024, due primarily to the natural cooling influence of the La Niña weather pattern in the Pacific. This is according to new reports by the European Copernicus climate service and the UK Met Office.
The past three years were still the hottest on record, pushing the planet closer to international climate limits despite this dip. Even with La Niña’s cooling effect, temperatures in 2025 were notably higher than a decade ago, reflecting the sustained heating from human-driven carbon emissions.
Without a sharp reduction in emissions, record temperatures and more disastrous weather are likely to continue, warn experts.
“If we look back from twenty years in the future, the mid-2020s may appear relatively cool,” said Dr. Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus.
Temperature Rise and Long-Term Warming
In 2025, the global average temperature was over 1.4C above pre-industrial levels, before large-scale fossil fuel use began in the late 1800s, Copernicus and Met Office data shows. There are tiny discrepancies between climate agencies in how they compute pre-industrial temperatures, but overall, the long-term warming trend is unquestionable.
Prof Rowan Sutton, director of the Met Office Hadley Centre, said: “We know that continued emission of greenhouse gases is putting more into the atmosphere, where it causes global warming.
Extreme Weather Continues
This sustained heat is now pushing the globe closer to the limit of international ambitions – 1.5C of warming above pre-industrial levels – agreed by almost 200 countries in 2015. The target aims to avoid the more severe impacts expected once warming reaches 2C.
“Indeed, based on current data, it is likely that long-term warming will exceed 1.5 degrees before the end of this decade,” Dr. Burgess said.
