Firefighters operating in Spain during August Pedro Pascual/Anadolu, via Getty Images
This year is poised to be the second hottest on record, following 2024, with numerous areas facing extraordinary storms, wildfires, and heat waves.
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Agency (C3S) reports that the average temperature in 2025 is currently 1.48 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline. If this holds, it will tie with 2023, falling only behind 2024, which recorded a rise of 1.6 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
While the planet warmed during the El Niño phase in 2024, it is now experiencing a La Niña phase, where the upwelling of cold water in the tropical Pacific Ocean typically results in lower global temperatures. However, fossil fuel emissions are projected to set a new record in 2025, leading to rising temperatures and exacerbating catastrophic weather events.
“The truth is that extreme events impact communities, societies, and ecosystems. We understand that in a warmer world, these extreme events will be more frequent and intense,” explains Samantha Burgess from C3S. “The storms will intensify due to increased moisture in the atmosphere.”
This summer, a heatwave in Europe resulted in an additional 16,500 fatalities associated with climate change. In October, Hurricane Melissa, the strongest hurricane to strike Jamaica, claimed over 80 lives and caused significant damage, with financial losses reaching $8.8 billion. Research from World Weather Attribution indicates that climate change enhanced Melissa’s rainfall by 16% and reduced wind speed by 7%.
In November, a series of cyclones and storms triggered landslides and flooding in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam, resulting in over 1,600 deaths.
Currently, Arctic sea ice extent is at its lowest recorded level for this time of year, and Antarctic sea ice is also below normal levels.
According to C3S, the three-year moving average temperature is projected to surpass 1.5 degrees Celsius for the first time since the pre-industrial era. Scientists anticipate that global warming will exceed the long-term average of 1.5°C by 2029, falling short of the Paris Agreement objectives.
“There isn’t a clear boundary at 1.5 degrees, but we know that impacts worsen beyond that threshold,” Burgess states. “We are also nearing a critical tipping point.”
According to an October report, a tipping point has seemingly been reached, leading to the irreversible decline of tropical coral reefs, and the world could soon face additional tipping points, including the demise of the Amazon rainforest and the collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, along with the decline of Antarctic sea ice.
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Source: www.newscientist.com
