The year 2025 revealed critical insights and alarming trends in global warming and climate change. It was reported that 2024 became the warmest year on record, reaching 1.6 °C above pre-industrial levels and exceeding the Paris Agreement's 1.5 °C target for the first time. André Corrêa do Lago, director of COP30, highlighted a shift from scientific denialism to denial of economic measures against climate change, while the Energy Institute suggested energy security is now driving the energy transition more than climate mitigation itself.
Scientific studies further indicated that Earth has likely entered a 20-year period averaging above 1.5 °C, partly due to an underestimation of aerosols' planet-cooling effect which masked previous warming. Alarming measurements also showed at least 30% of the Arctic has become a net source of carbon dioxide, sea surface temperature increases have more than quadrupled since the 1980s, and glaciers are experiencing unprecedented retreat. These findings underscore climate change as a third major threat to Earth's animals, alongside overexploitation and habitat alteration.