Global climate crisis deepens as January 2025 sets new temperature record

Firefighters battle the Palisades Fire as it burns multiple structures in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. Picture: AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File

Last month was the warmest January on record globally.

The EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service published its latest climate bulletin on Thursday reporting on the changes in global air and sea temperatures. The average air temperature of 13.23C recorded last month was 0.79C above the long term 1991-2020 average for January.

January 2025 was also 1.75C above the pre-industrial level, making it 18th month of the last 19 for which the global-average surface air temperature was more than 1.5C above 1850 to 1900. This was despite the development of cooling conditions at sea temperature, known as La Niña, in the Pacific Ocean.

In Europe, Ireland was one of the few countries to record a January temperature below the 1991-2020 average, where it was colder but drier than usual.

The average temperature over the European continent for January 2025 was 1.80C. That was a 2.51C rise above the 1991-2020 average for January, the second warmest after January 2020, which was 2.64C above average.

Outside Europe, temperatures were most above average over northeast and northwest Canada, Alaska, and Siberia.

'Surprising month'

Strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Samantha Burgess, said that January was a “surprising month”.

“January 2025 is another surprising month, continuing the record temperatures observed throughout the last two years, despite the development of La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific and their temporary cooling effect on global temperatures. Copernicus will continue to closely monitor ocean temperatures and their influence on our evolving climate throughout 2025," she said.

January was a wetter-than-average month across Europe including Italy, Scandinavia, and the Baltic countries, which saw flooding in many parts. Severe floods were also prevalent in Brazil and parts of France towards the end of the month.

The Copernicus report noted that arctic sea ice reached its lowest monthly extent for January, around 6% below the average.

The latest report follows on from 2024 being the warmest year on record, which was crucially the first to exceed the key milestone of 1.5C above pre-industrial level.

Widespread flooding killed thousands and left millions hungry across Africa; while deadly landslides led to thousands of buried villages across Asia. In South America, there were droughts which led to rivers shrinking up and costing many families their livelihoods.

Rain-triggered floods caught headlines in both Spain and the United States towards the end of 2024, as hundreds of people were killed and structural damage ensued, causing millions worth of damage and even more in terms of economic value.

In November, the Climate of Parties (Cop), the UN's annual climate change summit, agreed a new climate deal for $300bn a year by 2035 — but that was seen by developing countries as far too low.