The year 2025 is now tied with 2023 as the second-warmest year ever recorded, according to new global climate data released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Europe’s leading climate monitoring agency. The organisation said that 2025 is “virtually certain” to end as either the second or third-warmest year on record, following the unprecedented heat of 2024.
Global Temperature Data: A Concerning Trend
C3S highlighted that the global average temperature anomaly from January to November 2025 was:
- 0.60°C above the 1991–2020 average, and
- 1.48°C above the 1850–1900 pre-industrial baseline.
The agency also confirmed that November 2025 was the third-warmest November ever recorded globally, marking yet another month of exceptional and persistent warming.
According to the report, November saw significantly warmer-than-average temperatures across northern Canada and the Arctic Ocean. Several regions also experienced intense extreme weather events, including tropical cyclones in Southeast Asia that led to catastrophic flooding and loss of life.
Scientists Warn Crossing the 1.5°C Threshold Is Approaching
Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at C3S, said global temperatures for November were 1.54°C above pre-industrial levels. She noted that the three-year global average (2023–2025) is on track to exceed 1.5°C of warming for the first time.
“These milestones are not abstract—they reflect the accelerating pace of climate change,” Burgess warned.
She stressed that only rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions can slow the rise in global temperatures.
Record-Breaking November Figures
November 2025 registered an average global surface air temperature of 14.02°C, which is:
- 0.65°C warmer than the 1991–2020 November average,
- 0.20°C cooler than the record November heat of 2023, and
- 0.08°C cooler than November 2024.
C3S noted that November 2025 was 1.54°C above the pre-industrial level, making it the second month this year—after October 2025—to surpass the 1.5°C threshold, a pattern seen previously only in April 2025.
Will 2025 Cross the 1.5°C Line Annually?
C3S clarified that while 2025 may not exceed the 1.5°C warming limit for the year as a whole, the three-year average from 2023–2025 is very likely to surpass it—a historic first in the instrumental record.
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nearly 200 countries committed to keeping global warming “well below 2°C” and to pursue efforts to limit the rise to 1.5°C. However, with warming already crossing 1.3°C, global emissions continue to climb.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) previously confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year ever recorded, and the first year in which the global mean temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Reaching 1.5°C Permanently: What It Means
Scientists stressed that a permanent breach of the 1.5°C Paris limit refers to long-term warming over 20–30 years, not a single hot year. However, the latest projections suggest this threshold may be crossed much sooner.
A new report by Climate Analytics, a Berlin-based climate science and policy institute, says the world is very likely to reach 1.5°C of long-term warming by the early 2030s if current trends continue.