2025 was the third warmest year ever, and temperatures do not appear to be falling in 2026, according to the EU's climate service Copernicus in collaboration with the research organization Berkeley Earth in California.
The last 11 years have now been the warmest ever, with 2024 being the warmest and 2023 coming in second place, the research shows. For the first time ever, average global temperatures exceeded the 1.5 degree Celsius limit above pre-industrial levels over a three-year period, according to Copernicus' annual report.
- The sharp increase in warming observed from 2023 to 2025 has been extreme and suggests an acceleration in the pace of global warming, according to a separate report from Berkeley Earth.
The 2015 Paris Agreement commits signatory countries to keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursuing a long-term goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius. According to scientists, this goal will prevent the worst consequences of climate change.
According to Copernicus, the 1.5 degree limit could be reached before the end of this decade - more than ten years earlier than predicted.
No sign of improvement in 2026
Temperatures in 2025 were 1.47 degrees above pre-industrial levels. This is only slightly lower than in 2023. 2024 was the warmest year at 1.6 degrees, according to Copernicus.
US President Donald Trump has withdrawn the country from the agreement for the second time since he was inaugurated barely a year ago. The US is the world's second-largest polluter after China. Last week, Trump also announced that the United States is withdrawing from the UN's central climate agreement and a UN body that, among other things, organizes the COP climate summit.
In Antarctica, 2025 was the warmest year on record, while it was the second warmest year in the Arctic, according to Copernicus. Both Copernicus and Berkeley Earth warn that 2026 will not be much different.
Emissions rose last year in the United States, breaking two years of decline. Cold winters and interest in artificial intelligence are increasing energy demand, the think tank Rhodium Group said on Tuesday. The pace of greenhouse gas emission reductions has also slowed in Germany and France.
/ritzau/AFP
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