Last month was the warmest January on record, much to the bafflement of climate experts who had expected changes in ocean currents in the Pacific to take the edge off rising global temperatures.
Figures released by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) show that average global temperatures during the 31-day period were 1.75°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, before greenhouse gas emissions began rising significantly during the Industrial Revolution around 150 years ago.
‘January 2025 is another surprising month, continuing the record temperatures observed throughout the last two years,’ said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S.
‘Copernicus will continue to closely monitor ocean temperatures and their influence on our evolving climate throughout 2025.’
‘The fact that the latest robust Copernicus data reveals the January just gone was the hottest on record – despite an emerging La Niña, which typically has a cooling effect – is both astonishing and, frankly terrifying’
Bill McGuire, Emeritus Professor of Geophysical and Climate hazards, University College London
The figures is 0.1C above the record set last January, and comes after a year in which temperatures topped 1.5C, the target for climate negotiations, for the first time.
The global average air temperature was 13.23C, which is 0.79C above the 1991-2020 average for January say C3S, which looks at temperature readings from a variety of instruments, such as weather stations, balloons and satellites.
Dr Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London, warned that the rising pace of climate change would increase the risk of extreme weather and its consequences.
‘This January is the hottest on record because countries are still burning huge amounts of oil, gas and coal,’ she said.
‘The Los Angeles wildfires were a stark reminder that we have already reached an incredibly dangerous level of warming. We’ll see many more unprecedented extreme weather events in 2025.’
La Niña
January had been expected to be slightly cooler than last year because of a natural shift in weather patterns and ocean currents in the Pacific, called La Niña.
Bill McGuire, Emeritus Professor of Geophysical and Climate hazards at University College London, said: ‘The fact that the latest robust Copernicus data reveals the January just gone was the hottest on record – despite an emerging La Niña, which typically has a cooling effect – is both astonishing and, frankly terrifying.
‘Having crashed through the 1.5C limit in 2024, the climate is showing no signs of wanting to dip under it again, reflected by the fact that this is the 18th of the last 19 months to see the global temperature rise since pre-industrial times top 1.5C.
‘On the basis of the Valencia floods and apocalyptic LA wildfires, I don’t think there can be any doubt that dangerous, all-pervasive, climate breakdown has arrived.’
The findings were released at the same time as US President Donald Trump put oil and gas production ahead of tackling global warming.
The US Department of Energy will prioritise expanding energy production over achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, according to an order issued by Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
