BRUSSELS — The world is rapidly closing in on the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit that serves as a threshold for ever more dangerous climate change, European scientists have warned.
Average global temperatures are now around 1.4 C higher than during the pre-industrial era, according to data released Wednesday by the EU’s Copernicus planetary observation service. The scientists also found that 2025 was the third-hottest year on record.
If this warming trend continues, temperatures will breach the 1.5 C limit set out in the Paris Agreement before the end of this decade. In the 2015 landmark climate accord, governments pledged to limit global warming to “well below” 2 C and ideally to 1.5 C.
The threats from climate change, such as more intense heat waves and rising sea levels, increase with every tenth of a degree of warming. Scientists also warn that passing 1.5 C risks triggering so-called tipping points, from rainforest diebacks to ocean circulation collapse, that bring about irreversible and extreme climatic changes.
