Human activity helped make 2025 third-hottest year on record, experts say
The Guardian • • nation
Key Points:
- Scientists report 2025 as the third hottest year on record, with global surface air temperatures averaging 1.48°C above preindustrial levels, driven largely by fossil fuel pollution.
- The EU’s Copernicus climate agency warns that the Paris agreement limit of 1.5°C warming could be exceeded before the end of the decade, over 10 years earlier than initially projected.
- Natural factors like El Niño contributed to recent temperature surges but have weakened, revealing the clearer impact of human-induced warming.
- Polar regions experienced record or near-record warmth in 2025, with Antarctica having its hottest year and Arctic its second hottest, alongside historically low sea ice levels.
- Despite rising global emissions and worsening climate impacts,
