European Scientists have said that global warming has hit “a milestone” as average temperatures have exceeded the critical 1.5C threshold for the longest period yet.
The EU’s Earth observation service Copernicus said that year 2025 ranks as the third-warmest year on record, behind 2023 and 2024, with global temperatures averaging more than the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious limit for the first time over a three-year period.
“Exceeding a three-year average of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is a milestone none of us wished to reach,” said Mauro Facchini, head of the Unit for Earth Observation in the European Commission.
Samantha Burgess, who is deputy director at Copernicus was quoted as saying that the last three years had been “exceptionally warm” as a result of the record amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, primarily caused by burning fossil fuels, as well as record ocean heat, fuelled in part by the El Niño weather pattern.
Read also: Minister says Tinubu to push Nigeria’s position on climate change at UAE summit
Recall that In 2025, global temperatures were 1.47 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, slightly cooler than in 2023 and 0.13C lower than in 2024, the hottest year on record, according to the Copernicus analysis.
Temperatures in tropical regions in 2025 were lower than in 2023 and 2024, influenced by a weak La Niña, which is when surface waters in the Pacific Ocean are cooler than usual. Other weather monitoring agencies, including NASA in the US and the Met Office in the UK, separately published their 2025 temperature data on Wednesday.
After consolidating the eight independent datasets, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) confirmed that 2025 was one of the three warmest years on record. But it found that the average temperature across the past three years was 1.48C, just below the Paris Agreement limit.
Story was adapted from Climate Home News.
