The 1.5 degree warming threshold was exceeded for the third time in 2025
EnvironmentInternational
- Error detected
- 2025 was not the third time the 1.5°C threshold was exceeded - 2024 was the first full year to exceed this threshold
The claim misrepresents the order of events: only one year (2024) had exceeded the 1.5°C annual threshold before 2026-01-21
- Omissions
- The speaker conflates 'third warmest year' with 'third time exceeding 1.5°C threshold'
- The 1.5°C threshold was first exceeded by a full calendar year in 2024, not 2025
- The three-year average (2023-2025) exceeding 1.5°C is a different metric from individual annual exceedance
- Sources
- PrimaryCopernicus Climate Change Service (C3S)2024 is confirmed to be the warmest year on record globally, and the first calendar year that the average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level (1850-1900)
- PrimaryCopernicus Climate Change Service (C3S)2025 on track to be among three warmest years; while 2025 may not reach 1.5°C above pre-industrial level, the average global temperature for 2023-2025 is likely to exceed 1.5°C
- SecondaryDown To Earth2025 was the third warmest year on record globally; the three-year period from 2023 to 2025 averaged above 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels