Scientists confirm 2025 as third hottest year on record

LAST year was globally the third warmest year on record, scientists confirmed, as human activity drives the “unmistakable trend” towards a hotter climate.

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Scientists around the world - including at the UK’s Met Office, University of East Anglia, and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science - have released their data for 2025, revealing it was the third year in a row with temperatures more than 1.4C above pre-industrial levels.

Last year was 1.41C above the baseline of 19th century temperatures, behind 2024’s record heat, and 2023, according to the Hadcrut5 dataset collated by the Met Office, UEA and Necas, while the Europe's Copernicus Era5 analysis put temperatures at 1.47C above pre-industrial levels.

The Hadcrut5 dataset puts the average temperature over the past three years at 1.47C above 1850 to 1900, while the Copernicus monitoring found they averaged more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.