Scientists Warn 2025 Among Hottest Years as Three-Year Warming Spike Signals Acceleration
Scientists report 2025 among the hottest years; the three-year period 2023 to 2025 shows accelerated warming largely driven by fossil-fuel emissions and atmospheric changes globally.
Overview
Multiple monitoring teams, including WMO, NASA, NOAA, Copernicus and Berkeley Earth, found 2025 ranked among the top three hottest years, with datasets differing by fractions of a degree.
When averaged, 2023 to 2025 temperatures exceed the Paris agreement threshold (1.5°C/2.7°F), prompting warnings that the limit may be breached this decade without emissions reductions.
Scientists attribute most warming to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, with recent years amplified by reduced cooling aerosols, solar activity and other natural factors.
Impacts in 2025 included record heat exposure for hundreds of millions, polar temperature records, severe storms, wildfires and economic damages, with notable hot extremes in China, Australia and the US West.
Researchers warn El Niño's timing could further raise temperatures; several groups predict 2026 will be similarly hot and expect long-term warming to continue without major policy changes.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame this coverage with urgency by prioritizing alarming scientific assessments and human-cause attribution. Editorial choices highlight stark quotes (e.g., 'warning shot', 'it's our fault'), foreground recent record warmth and projections, and omit skeptical counterpoints. Together, selection and organization strengthen a narrative of accelerating, human-driven climate risk.
Sources (3)
FAQ
The accelerated warming is primarily due to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, amplified by a strong El Niño event, reductions in cooling aerosols from shipping and China, the 2022 Tonga volcanic eruption, and a stronger solar cycle.
2025 ranks among the top three hottest years on record according to datasets from WMO, NASA, NOAA, Copernicus, and Berkeley Earth, with minor differences of fractions of a degree between sources.
Reductions in sulfur dioxide emissions from international shipping (post-2020 IMO regulations) and China decreased cooling aerosols that brighten clouds and reflect sunlight, contributing significantly to the unexpected temperature jump, explaining about half of the 2023-2024 warming.
Continued warming risks breaching the 1.5°C Paris Agreement threshold this decade, AMOC shutdown in 20-30 years leading to irreversible sea level rise, more severe heatwaves, storms, wildfires, and economic damages.
Several monitoring groups predict 2026 will be similarly hot, even with potential La Niña cooling, due to ongoing emissions and other factors like El Niño timing.
History
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