Global temperatures remained exceedingly warm in 2025, marking it near record territory despite La Niña cooling, following 2024 as the hottest year and 2023 as the second-hottest.

Berkeley Earth estimates that roughly 9.1% of the world’s surface experienced a record-warm year in 2025, affecting about 770 million people through combined land and ocean impacts.

Extreme events in 2025 reflect ongoing ocean-warming impacts, with intense rainfall across South and Southeast Asia and catastrophic flooding in Texas.

Arctic December 2025 set the all-time low for sea ice extent, and the year saw record lows in Arctic extent and volume, while Greenland continued its multi-decade ice loss, though at a slower pace.

2025 produced notable heat records, including ten national or territorial all-time highs and 89 monthly heat records, with some stations also recording notable all-time cold records.

The 2025 Atlantic Basin saw 102 named tropical cyclones, the third-highest since 1980, with 52 hurricanes and 24 major hurricanes, while atmospheric cyclone energy remained near average.

Fossil-fuel and cement emissions rose about 1.1% in 2025 to 38.1 billion tons, with atmospheric CO2 hovering near 426 ppm and land and ocean sinks becoming less effective at offsetting emissions.

Regional temperature rankings showed Europe and Oceania at near-record warmth, Asia at its third-warmest year, North America fourth-warmest, the Arctic second-warmest, and the Antarctic fourth-warmest.

Global ocean heat content in the top 2,000 meters hit a record high for the ninth straight year, increasing by 23 zettajoules from 2024 and fueling stronger storms and heavier precipitation.

La Niña persisted into early 2026, with expectations of an end by March and a 75% chance that 2026 will be among the top five hottest years, potentially followed by El Niño later in the year.