2025 will in all likelihood be the second hottest year on record. The findings published by the European monitoring service Copernicus have become a worrying fixture. The scientific body has indeed been reminding us for years, through its work, of how global warming and its effects are already present in our daily lives.

Global average temperature so far 1.48 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels

According to the announcement made on Tuesday 9 December, the current year could equal 2023: "The global average temperature for the period from January to November 2025 – Copernicus explained – was 0.6 degrees Celsius above the average for the years between 1991 and 2020. And 1.48 degrees above the pre-industrial period". That is, before humanity (and in particular the wealthiest portion of the Earth) began burning coal, oil and gas to fuel its production.

We are, in short, continuing to dangerously brush against the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold, the more ambitious target within the 1.5-to-2-degree window set out by the Paris Agreement on climate in 2015. Obviously, for global warming to be officially declared as having reached and exceeded the lower bound of that range, the global average temperature will need to settle consistently above 1.5 degrees.

The 2023–2025 three-year period could be the first to exceed 1.5 degrees of global warming as a whole

But the trend is as evident as it is alarming. Consider that, if the figures are confirmed, the 2023–2025 three-year period could be the first to have exceeded the threshold as a whole. The hope is that this proves to be a temporary breach — but for that to be the case, greenhouse gas emissions must be cut immediately and drastically. Above all, this means abandoning the continued burning of fossil fuels, a solution on which the world, at the latest United Nations world climate conference, COP30 in Belém, still appeared deeply divided.

Copernicus EU @CopernicusEU

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🌡️The latest #CopernicusEU C3S Climate Bulletin shows Nov 2025 was the 3rd-warmest November on record, at 14.02°C - 0.65°C above the 1991–2020 average (surface air temperature).

Anomalies reveals extreme warmth across the Arctic, with peaks of +5–7°C.

🔗copernicus.eu/en/media/image…

♥ 89💬 2 10 dic 2025 · Apri su X →

For the definitive 2025 figures, we will of course need to wait for the December data. It is unlikely that the record for the twelve hottest months ever, set in 2024, will be broken, but it is equally improbable that the final figure will stray far from that all-time high.

November saw numerous extreme weather events and severe loss of life

With all that this entails in terms of impacts and the climate crisis. The Copernicus service itself notes that last November alone was marked by "numerous extreme weather events, particularly tropical cyclones in South-East Asia, which triggered catastrophic flooding on a wide scale and caused severe loss of life".

November itself proved to be the third hottest on record, with an average temperature over land and ocean surfaces of 14.02 degrees Celsius: 0.65 degrees above the 1991–2020 period. Above-average readings compared to recent decades were recorded almost everywhere in the world, with peaks in northern Canada, the Arctic Ocean and across Antarctica.