Due to greenhouse gas (GHG) levels hitting record highs, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has issued a warning that the record-breaking temperatures of 2024 will probably persist into 2025. These increasing emissions are locking up future heat. After 2023 and 2024, the UK Met Office predicts that 2025 will be one of the three hottest years on record, making 2025 among the top three warmest years globally.

Global temperatures were predicted to break the 1.45°C record established in 2023 and cross the Paris Agreement threshold of 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) for the first time in 2024. The globe has seen a decade of lethal heat, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, with the top 10 warmest years on record—including 2024—occurring in the previous ten years.

Climate Breakdown and Call for Action

Guterres has called this trend “real-time climate breakdown,” and the WMO has proclaimed 2015–2024 the hottest decade on record. In order to prevent further harm, he emphasized that immediate action is required, saying that nations must take decisive action to reduce emissions and promote the shift to renewable energy by 2025.

In order to reduce the increasing hazards associated with high heat, the organization emphasized the necessity of enhanced international collaboration. According to research by Climate Central and World Weather Attribution, 26 out of 29 extreme weather events in 2024 that killed at least 3,700 people and displaced millions more were made worse by climate change. The increasing trend of extreme heat further underscores why 2025 is among the top three warmest years and must serve as a wake-up call for global climate action.

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Long-Term Implications and the Paris Agreement

The WMO made it clear that the Paris Agreement targets are still reachable even if one year’s temperature rises by more than 1.5°C. Instead of focusing on specific years, the Agreement’s goals aim for consistent exceedance across decades.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo highlighted the wider effects of warming, noting that each degree of warming raises the risks, consequences, and extremes of the climate. Saulo added that extreme weather events are a daily manifestation of climate change and that temperatures are only one aspect of the issue.

The WMO reaffirmed the significance of ongoing efforts to keep temperature rises to 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels, emphasizing that these targets are still attainable with persistent and successful international action.

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