The planet is still feverish. Although 2024 remains the warmest year on record, 2025 follows closely behind, with temperatures above historical averages: it was the third warmest year on record. The data from the report 'Global Climate Highlights' by Copernicus, published in recent days, clearly show that global temperatures in 2025 were the third highest on record. And the same is true for Europe.

The report, developed with the United Nations World Meteorological Organization and other national institutions, states that half the Earth has recorded more days than usual with temperatures above 32°C, and some areas of central Africa have seen over 100 days of intense heat. Even less reassuring news comes from Antarctica, with its highest annual average temperature ever, and the Arctic, with the second highest. In February, the combined Arctic and Antarctic ice sheet produced the lowest global sea ice extent ever observed.

This trend has characterized the entire three-year period from 2023 to 2025, during which the symbolic threshold of 1,5°C set by the Paris Agreement was exceeded for the first time. This period has also been marked by extreme weather events: global climate stress has led to floods, heat waves, and devastating fires. The causes are linked to the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation—trees absorb CO2, and their felling impedes this process—and intensive agriculture and livestock farming, which produce reckless quantities of methane.

The EU places the objectives of the Paris Agreement at its core and is committed to becoming climate neutral by 2050. Later this year, it will also present a new European framework for climate resilience and risk management to better prepare the Union to address the challenges of climate change and strengthen its capacity to adapt.

Read from here the full report in English