Human-induced warming hits record 1.37°C in 2025

The latest Indicators of Global Climate Change (IGCC) report found that human-induced warming reached 1.37°C above pre-industrial levels in 2025, showed that how close the planet is to breaching the limit set under the Paris Agreement.
 
IGCC Published the report in the journal Earth System Science Data, the report was prepared by more than 70 scientists from 56 institutions across 17 countries, according to a major international climate assessment released on Thursday.

Scientists also highlighted accelerating sea-level rise. Global mean sea level reached a record 23 centimetres above 1901 levels in 2025, driven by warming oceans and the melting of land-based ice.

Marine heatwaves are becoming increasingly common as well. The world's oceans experienced 65 marine heatwave days in 2025, while the number of such events has more than tripled since 1991.

"Earth energy imbalance" �" the gap between the amount of solar energy entering the planet and the amount escaping back into space. The indicator has reached a record high, showing that heat is accumulating in the climate system faster than ever,” researchers said.

"A key indicator is the Earth's energy imbalance, which measures how fast heat is accumulating in the climate system," said Prof Piers Forster, lead author of the report and director of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures at the University of Leeds.

He said the imbalance has been increasing since the 1970s and has nearly doubled in recent decades, reflecting the accelerating pace of climate change.

The report also found that global greenhouse gas emissions hit a record 56.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2024, driven largely by continued reliance on fossil fuels.

Scientists said the rate of human-induced warming remains at an all-time high of 0.27°C per decade. Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases, combined with declining sulphur dioxide pollution that previously masked part of the warming effect, are contributing to the trend.

According to the study, nearly all of the warming observed over the past decade can be attributed to human activities.

"Our study demonstrates that nearly all of the warming over the last decade is driven by human activities," said Dr Samantha Burgess of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

She warned that the impacts of climate change are already being felt worldwide, affecting livelihoods, ecosystems and economies, and are expected to intensify as temperatures continue to rise.