{"id":45825,"date":"2025-12-31T12:03:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T20:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45825"},"modified":"2025-12-31T12:03:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T20:03:25","slug":"a-wake-up-call-scientists-find-2025-among-hottest-years-on-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/31\/a-wake-up-call-scientists-find-2025-among-hottest-years-on-record\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A Wake-Up Call\u2019: Scientists Find 2025 Among Hottest Years on Record"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A woman cools herself off using a fan at a bus stop showing a temperature of 37\u00b0C\u2014or 99\u00b0F\u2014during a heatwave in Madrid, on July 1, 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Thomas Coex\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c2025 was full of stark reminders of the urgent need to cut climate pollution, invest in clean energy, and tackle the climate crisis now.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dec 30, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change<\/a> driven by human burning of fossil fuels<\/a> helped make 2025 one of the hottest years ever recorded, a scientific report published Monday affirmed, prompting renewed calls for urgent action to combat the worsening planetary emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers at World Weather Attribution (WWA) found<\/a> that \u201calthough 2025 was slightly cooler than 2024 globally, it was still far hotter than almost any other year on record,\u201d with only two other recent years recording a higher average worldwide temperature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For the first time, the three-year running average will end the year above the 1.5\u00b0C warming goal, relative to preindustrial levels, established a decade ago under the landmark Paris climate agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGlobal temperatures remained very high and significant harm from human-induced climate change is very real,\u201d the report continues. \u201cIt is not a future threat, but a present-day reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAcross the 22 extreme events we analyzed in depth, heatwaves<\/a>, floods, storms, droughts, and wildfires<\/a> claimed lives, destroyed communities, and wiped out crops,\u201d the researchers wrote. \u201cTogether, these events paint a stark picture of the escalating risks we face in a warming world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The WWA researchers\u2019 findings tracked with the findings of\u00a0United Nations<\/a>\u00a0experts and others that 2025 would be the third-hottest year on record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/UN\/status\/1986509136268570934?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1986509136268570934%7Ctwgr%5E5c501a8af897a5e107f4fead783f813c13aa4a24%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2F2025-third-hottest-year<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the WWA study:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

This year highlighted again, in stark terms, how unfairly the consequences of human-induced climate change are distributed, consistently hitting those who are already marginalized within their societies the hardest. But the inequity goes deeper: The scientific evidence base itself is uneven. Many of our studies in 2025 focused on heavy rainfall events in the Global South<\/a>, and time and again we found that gaps in observational data and the reliance on climate models developed primarily for the Global North prevented us from drawing confident conclusions. This unequal foundation in climate science<\/a> mirrors the broader injustices of the climate crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The events of 2025 make it clear that while we urgently need to transition away from fossil fuels, we also must invest in adaptation measures. Many deaths and other impacts could be prevented with timely action. But events like Hurricane Melissa highlight the limits of preparedness and adaptation: When an intense storm strikes small islands such as Jamaica and other Caribbean nations, even relatively high levels of preparedness cannot prevent extreme losses and damage. This underscores that adaptation alone is not enough; rapid emission reductions remain essential to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t stop burning fossil fuels very, very, quickly, very soon, it will be very hard to keep that goal<\/a>\u201d of 1.5\u00b0C, WWA co-founder Friederike Otto\u2014who is also an Imperial College London climate scientist\u2014told<\/a> the Associated Press<\/em>. \u201cThe science is increasingly clear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WWA study\u2019s publication comes a month after this year\u2019s United Nations Climate Change Conference\u2014or COP30\u2014ended in Brazil<\/a> with little meaningful progress<\/a><\/a> toward a transition from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to the new study, Climate Action Campaign director Margie Alt said in a statement<\/a> that \u201c2025 was full of stark reminders of the urgent need to cut climate pollution<\/a>, invest in clean energy, and tackle the climate crisis now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday\u2019s report is a wake-up call,\u201d Alt continued. \u201cUnfortunately, [US President Donald] Trump and Republicans<\/a> controlling Congress spent the past year making climate denial official US policy and undermining progress to stave off the worst of the climate crisis. Their reckless polluters-first agenda rolled back critical climate protections and attacked and undermined the very agencies responsible for helping Americans prepare for and recover from increasingly dangerous disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAcross the country, people are standing up and demanding their leaders do better to protect our families from climate change and\u00a0extreme weather<\/a>,\u201d Alt added. \u201cIt\u2019s time those in power started listening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman cools herself off using a fan at a bus stop showing a temperature of 37\u00b0C\u2014or 99\u00b0F\u2014during a heatwave in Madrid, on July 1, 2025.  (Photo by Thomas Coex\/AFP via Getty Images) \u201c2025 was full of stark reminders of the urgent need to cut climate pollution, invest in clean… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45825"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45826,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45825\/revisions\/45826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}