Last year was the third-warmest in modern history, according to Copernicus, the European Union’s climate change monitoring service.The conclusion came as no surprise: The past 11 years have been the 11 warmest on record, according to Copernicus data.In 2025, the average global temperature was about 1.47 degrees Celsius (2.65 Fahrenheit) higher than from 1850 to 1900 — the period scientists use as a reference point, since it precedes the industrial era in which massive amounts of carbon pollution have been pumped into the atmosphere.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Annual surface air temperatures were above the average across 91% of the globe,” Samantha Burgess, the strategic lead on climate for the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates Copernicus, said at a news conference. “The primary reason for these record temperatures is the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, dominated by the burning of fossil fuels.”World leaders pledged in the 2015 Paris Agreement to try to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels. But temperatures have neared or exceeded that mark for three consecutive years, leaving that dream all but dead.“Exceeding a three-year average of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels is a milestone that none of us wished to see,” Mauro Facchini, head of Earth observation for the European Commission’s Directorate General for Defence Industry and Space, said at the news conference. “The news is not encouraging, and the urgency of climate action has never been more important.”A woman holds an umbrella to protect herself from the sun near the Colosseum in Rome in July. (Tiziana Fabi / AFP via Getty Images file)U.S. agencies are expected to rele …
