• Global temperatures in 2025 were 1.47 °C above preindustrial levels
• The year ranked behind only 2023 and 2024 in modern climate records
• Adaptation needs in developing countries could reach up to $365 billion a year

Global temperatures continue to rise, with 2025 ranking as the third hottest year in modern history, behind only 2023 and 2024, according to the latest data from the European climate observatory Copernicus, published on January 14.

During the year, average surface air temperatures worldwide were 1.47 °C above preindustrial levels recorded between 1850 and 1900. In total, the past 11 years, from 2015 to 2025, have all been the warmest years ever recorded.

The exceptional heat in 2025 occurred despite the presence of La Niña, a natural cooling cycle in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that typically lowers global temperatures, unlike El Niño, which pushes temperatures higher by warming Pacific waters.

Copernicus attributes the trend to the continued rise in greenhouse gas concentrations driven by the burning of coal, oil, and gas, reduced absorption of carbon dioxide by land and ocean sinks, and partly to lower cooling effects linked to declining aerosol levels.

Beyond rising temperatures, 2025 was also marked by extreme weather events, including floods, heat waves, and wildfires. While the Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming to 2 °C, and ideally 1.5 °C, above preindustrial levels, the new data underline the urgency of stepping up efforts to curb climate change.

Scientists say the 1.5 °C threshold is likely to be crossed by 2030 at the current pace of emissions, around 10 years earlier than projected in 2015.

Such a scenario would require massive investment to help developing countries adapt, including building flood defenses, introducing drought-resistant crops, and restoring mangroves, forests, and wetlands.

In its Adaptation Gap Report 2025: Running on Empty, published in October, the United Nations Environment Program estimates that developing countries will need between $310 billion and $365 billion a year by 2035 to adapt to the effects of climate change. This would be 12 to 14 times the funding currently mobilized by industrialized countries, which stood at just $26 billion in 2023.

Espoir Olodo