July 2025 was the world’s third-warmest on record, The Associated Press reported Thursday, based on forecasts from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Temperatures did ease up slightly compared to record highs that were seen two years ago, but scientists say the overall trend of warming continues to fuel destructive weather.
Even as the average temperatures saw a minor dip, the month resulted in catastrophic effects, including fatal flooding and brutal heat waves worldwide.
Copernicus report estimates revealed that global surface temperatures in July were 1.25 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels on an average. The report further stated that Greenhouse gas emissions through the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and industrial processes were the key factors driving these trends.
Turkey hit an all-time high temperature of 50.5 degrees Celsius on 25 July despite the raging fires, which are still unabated.
Despite this July being cooler than July 2023 and 2024 — the warmest and second warmest on record — the August 2024 to July 2025 12-month average was 1.53 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, thus crossing the 1.5 degrees Celsius mark specified by the 2015 Paris Agreement for capping human-caused warming.
Europe: The Fastest Warming Continent
Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, the climate agency said, per AP. While 2024 was the hottest year on record, the Paris Agreement target is based on a 20-year average and hasn’t yet been officially surpassed.
Julien Nicolas, senior scientist at Copernicus, stressed the importance of context, reportedly saying, “We are really coming out from a streak of global temperature records that lasted almost two years. It was a very exceptional streak.”
Copernicus is the European bloc’s Earth observation system, using satellite and ground data to monitor climate changes. Britain rejoined the agency in 2023.
