Climate change

2025 Among Hottest Years on Record as COP30 Summit Begins

Published NOV 7 2025

Story

Above: An entrance at COP30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Brazil, on Nov. 3, 2025. Image credit: Pablo Porciuncula/AFP/Getty Images

The Facts

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has reported that 2025 will rank as the second or third hottest year in 176 years of record keeping, with global temperatures between January and August measuring 1.42 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
World Meteorological Organization
The past 11 years from 2015 to 2025 have been the hottest since temperature records began, with 2023, 2024 and 2025 being the three warmest years on record, according to United Nations climate data released ahead of COP30.
World Meteorological Organization
Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached new record highs in 2025, continuing to rise from 2024's already record levels and locking in additional heat for future years, according to the WMO.
guardian
The Times of Israel
UN News
This comes as world leaders have gathered in Belem, Brazil for the COP30 climate summit, with notable absences including the United States under President Trump, who has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement and claims climate change to be a hoax, along with China and India.
Le Monde
Breitbart
Ursula von der Leyen on X
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described allowing global warming to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius as "moral failure and deadly negligence," while scientists warn that limiting warming to this target is now virtually impossible without overshooting.
Al Jazeera
The Daily Telegraph

Sources Split

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The Spin

Climate-skeptic narrative

Climate change is a challenge, not a catastrophe, and the real threat is energy poverty that keeps billions in darkness. Media coverage distorts climate science while ignoring CO2's massive benefits like global greening and improved crop yields, all while renewable energy mandates create unreliable power grids that threaten economic prosperity and human flourishing.

The Oxford Blue

Donald Trump

Climate-concerned narrative

The planet is experiencing an unprecedented streak of record-breaking temperatures with 2025 ranking among the hottest years ever recorded. Global temperatures have risen 1.42C above pre-industrial levels, making the Paris Agreement's 1.5C target virtually impossible without overshooting. Extreme weather events are devastating communities worldwide while political leaders deny reality.