Global temperatures in 2025 are on track to make it the second-warmest year ever recorded, according to an update released Tuesday by the European Union’s climate monitoring agency. The report also highlights that, over a three-year period, the planet’s temperature is set to exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement, a stark indication of accelerating global warming.
As of November 2025’s average global temperature matched that of 2023 as the second-highest ever measured, with 2024 remaining the hottest year on record, driven in part by an El Niño cycle. The planet’s average temperature for the first eleven months of 2025 was 1.08 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1991–2020 baseline and 2.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels. Experts warn that persistent greenhouse gas emissions continue to push the planet toward dangerous warming levels, with fossil fuel emissions projected to rise 1.1% this year. Despite longstanding global climate targets, many nations are struggling to reduce emissions, and geopolitical and economic pressures continue to hinder meaningful action, leaving the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius increasingly out of reach.