2025 marks 3rd-warmest year on record, EU, UN climate agencies report

The year 2025 ranked as the third-warmest globally since records began, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), underscoring a continued trend of rising global temperatures and persistent climate extremes.

The report, Global Climate Highlights 2025, shows that the year was only slightly cooler than 2023 and followed 2024, which remains the warmest year on record and the first to clearly exceed 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels.

The global average surface temperature in 2025 stood at 14.97C (58.9F), which is 0.59C (1.06F) above the 1991–2020 average and 1.47C (2.64F) above estimated pre-industrial levels.

Copernicus data indicates that nearly 91% of the Earth experienced above-average temperatures during the year, with almost half of the globe recording significantly warmer-than-normal conditions.

January 2025 marked the warmest January ever recorded, while March, April and May each ranked as the second warmest for their respective months.

Sea surface temperatures remained unusually high throughout the year, with the global average reaching 0.38C (.684F) above the 1991–2020 baseline—the third-highest on record.

This occurred despite neutral El Nino conditions.

Polar regions experienced pronounced warming, with Antarctic temperatures reaching record highs and the Arctic recording its second-highest levels.

Europe recorded its third-warmest year, with an average temperature of 10.41C (50.7F), which is 1.17C (2.106F) above the 1991–2020 average, while western and northern regions, including parts of the North Atlantic, the North Sea, Scandinavia and the western Mediterranean, experienced record-high temperatures in several areas.

In Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, at least 95% of the region experienced above-average temperatures in 2025, while a record three-week heat wave pushed temperatures above 30C (86F) near and within the Arctic Circle in parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland, according to the joint report.

It also highlighted accelerating cryosphere losses, with Europe’s snow cover 31% below average, Iceland recording its second-largest glacier loss on record, and the Greenland Ice Sheet losing 139 gigatons of ice.

The report highlights a continued rise in climate-related extremes. Climate extremes extended beyond heat, with a record 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres) burned in wildfires across Europe, around 70% of rivers showing below-average flows, and drought affecting more than half the continent in May.

Around half of the globe experienced more days than average with strong heat stress conditions, defined as a "feels-like" temperature above 32C (89.6F).

Despite the extremes, the report pointed to progress in energy transition, saying renewables supplied a record 46.4% of Europe’s electricity in 2025, with solar reaching an all-time high contribution.

Scientists also noted that greenhouse gas concentrations likely continued to rise in 2025, contributing to ongoing warming trends.

Researchers emphasize that the data reflect a sustained shift toward higher global temperatures, with each of the past three years ranking among the warmest ever recorded.