2025 'virtually certain' to be second- or third-hottest year on record, EU data shows

People run from a wildfire near the village of Larouco in the province of Ourense in northwestern Spain in August. Average temperatures have risen sharply as a result of the blanket of carbon pollution smothering the Earth, which has strengthened weather extremes from heatwaves to heavy rains, but continue to vary from year to year based on natural factors. File photo: Miguel Riopa/AFP

This year is “virtually certain” to end as the second- or third-hottest year on record, EU scientists have found, as climate breakdown continues to push the planet away from the stable conditions in which humanity evolved.

Global temperatures from January to November were on average 1.48C higher than pre-industrial levels, according to the Copernicus, the EU’s Earth observation programme.