UN says 2025 to be among top three warmest years on record

An alarming streak of exceptional temperatures has put 2025 on course to be among the hottest years ever recorded, the United Nations said Thursday, insisting though that the trend could still be reversed. While this year will not surpass 2024 as the hottest recorded, it will rank second or third, capping more than a decade of unprecedented heat, the UN's weather and climate agency said.

Meanwhile, concentrations of greenhouse gases grew to new record highs, locking in more heat for the future, the World Meteorological Organization warned in a report released as dozens of world leaders met in the Brazilian Amazon ahead of next week's COP30 UN climate summit.