Global heating shows no signs of abating. May 2025 marked the second-warmest May on record—both on land and at sea—according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, reported by Daily Times.
While the planet’s average surface temperature fell just below the 1.5°C threshold above preindustrial levels, it still clocked in at 1.4°C higher than the 1850–1900 benchmark. That figure signals a temporary dip in an otherwise relentless rise. All but one of the previous 22 months exceeded the 1.5°C mark, threatening the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious goal.
Oceans, which absorb over 90 percent of the planet’s excess heat, remained especially alarming. May’s average global sea surface temperature reached 20.79°C—second only to May 2024. Marine heatwaves surged in the northeast Atlantic, while the Mediterranean Sea simmered well above average.
At the UN Ocean Conference opening this week in Nice, France, scientists sounded the alarm. Warmer waters are disrupting marine life, bleaching coral reefs, and damaging ocean ecosystems vital to Earth’s climate stability. Heat-stratified waters are mixing less, starving marine life of nutrients and oxygen.
On land, the climate crisis deepened. Boreal forests across Canada, Siberia, and northern Europe endured their second-warmest spring, igniting wildfires that forced emergency declarations in multiple Canadian provinces. Meanwhile, parts of Europe, including Britain, Denmark, and the Netherlands, faced severe drought. River flows in spring hit their lowest levels since records began in 1992.
“This may offer a brief respite for the planet,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus, “but we expect the 1.5°C threshold to be exceeded again soon due to continued climate warming.”
Over the past year, global temperatures averaged 1.57°C above preindustrial levels—well beyond the Paris target. Though the treaty relies on 20-year averages to assess long-term trends, the near future looks bleak. The UN’s meteorological agency now sees a 70 percent chance that the five-year period from 2025 to 2029 will breach 1.5°C.
Scientists continue to emphasize: every fraction of a degree matters. The closer the planet inches toward 2°C, the greater the danger to life on Earth.
