WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The World Meteorological Organization has confirmed that 2025 was one of the three warmest years on record, continuing the streak of extraordinary global temperatures.
After analysing eight international datasets, the organization said that global average surface temperatures last year were 1.44°C above the 1850 to 1900 average.
Two of these datasets ranked 2025 as the second warmest year in the 176-year record, and the other six ranked it as the third warmest year.
The fact that 2025 was very slightly cooler than the three-year average from 2023 is partly explained by the La Nina phenomenon, which is associated with colder weather.
But WMO insisted that any temporary cooling from La Nina is not reversing the long-term trend of warmer temperatures.
'The year 2025 started and ended with a cooling La Nina and yet it was still one of the warmest years on record globally because of the accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere,' said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
The organization added that the high temperatures on land and sea last year helped to fuel extreme weather, including heatwaves, heavy rainfall and deadly tropical cyclones, underlining the need for early warning systems.
Citing a separate study, WMO highlighted that ocean temperatures were also among the highest on record last year, reflecting the long-term accumulation of heat within the climate system.
Regionally, about 33 per cent of the global ocean area ranked among its historical (1958-2025) top three warmest conditions, while about 57 per cent fell within the top five, including the tropical and South Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, North Indian Ocean and Southern Oceans, underscoring the broad ocean warming across basins.
WMO will provide full details of key climate change indicators, including greenhouse gases, surface temperatures, ocean heat and other trends, in its State of the Global Climate 2025 report to be issued in March.
Meanwhile, according to data from the European Union's Copernicus Global Climate Highlights report, global temperatures in 2025 ranked as the third-highest on record.
This year sat just 0.01°C below the levels seen in 2023, and while 2024 remains the warmest year ever documented, 2025 followed closely behind with temperatures significantly higher than historical averages. Last year was also the third-warmest year on record for Europe.
The Copernicus report, coordinated with the United Nations World Meteorological Organisation and other national climate monitoring organisations, highlights that air temperatures over land were the second highest ever recorded. Both poles experienced extreme conditions: Antarctica saw its warmest annual temperature on record, while the Arctic recorded its second warmest.
Current warming trends suggests the Paris Agreement goal to limit global temperatures rises to 1.5°C could be reached by the end of this decade - more than ten years earlier than what was projected when the agreement was first signed.
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