epd | According to data from the EU climate service Copernicus, last year was the third warmest since weather records began. According to data published in Bonn on Wednesday, in 2025, with a global average temperature of 14.97 degrees Celsius, it was only slightly cooler than in the record years 2024 and 2023. For the first time, global temperatures on a three-year average from 2023 to 2025 would have been more than 1.5 degrees Celsius It was said that it was above the level of the pre-industrial period.
According to the data, the past eleven years have also been the eleven warmest on record. Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo spoke of further “evidence of the unmistakable trend towards a hotter climate”. The world is rapidly approaching the long-term temperature limit set by the Paris Agreement, Buontempo said, warning: “We will inevitably exceed it.” Now the question arises as to how best to deal with this.
Heat waves, heavy rain, hurricanes
In the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, the international community resolved to limit the increase in the global average temperature to as little as 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the period before industrialization. A permanent exceedance would have serious consequences worldwide, for example because heat waves or other extreme weather events such as heavy rain and hurricanes would increase. Many ecosystems are also at risk.
The long-term average temperature is crucial for the 1.5 degree target. According to the Federal Environment Agency, an average of 20 to 30 years is usually used. In order to keep the goal within reach, emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) would have to decrease significantly, which is not the case so far.
In Germany, emissions will fall slightly in 2025but partly due to the economic crisis.
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2025 below 1.5 degrees
According to the Copernicus data, last year remained just below the 1.5 degree mark with a warming of 1.47 degrees compared to pre-industrial times, but 2024 was well above that with a warming of 1.6 degrees. An increase of 1.48 degrees was measured for 2023, the second warmest year ever recorded. This results in an average global warming of almost 1.52 degrees over the past three years.
The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Strategic Director for Climate, Samantha Burgess, expressed concern. The current level of global warming is estimated at 1.4 degrees, Burgess said. If the warming rate of the past 15 years continues, the… 1.5 degree limit by the end of this decade be exceeded.
High sea temperatures
According to the report, in addition to the climate-damaging greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the high sea surface temperatures are responsible for the past three years being exceptionally warm. This is related to the El Niño phenomenon and “other factors of ocean variability” that have been exacerbated by climate change. The experts also pointed to changes in the amount of aerosols, low clouds and fluctuations in atmospheric circulation.
The data on the 2025 climate highlights were published by the ECMWF. This operates the Copernicus service on climate change on behalf of the EU Commission.