Earth’s Heat Reaches New Warning Point As August Ties Global Temperature Record
Global temperatures reached 1.65°C above pre-industrial levels in August.
August was the world's joint-hottest month on record, with the global average surface air temperature reaching 16.96 degrees Celsius, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). The figure was 1.65 degrees Celsius above the estimated pre-industrial average, when measured against the 19th-century baseline. August also matched July 2023 as the warmest month recorded since C3S's records began in 1940.
The month was marked by extreme weather across several regions, with climate-related disasters affecting communities around the world. Scientists have indicated that climate change likely contributed to landslides and flash floods that killed hundreds of people in Nepal and China's Tibet, although research into the specific causes remains ongoing. Wildfires were reported from Indonesia to Greece and Belgium, while parts of Hungary and Romania experienced severe drought.
August was also the first month since November 2025 in which the global average temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The threshold is significant because the 2015 Paris Agreement set a goal of limiting long-term global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius while pursuing efforts to keep it to 1.5 degrees. Scientists stress that the Paris target is based on a long-term average rather than temperatures recorded during individual months.
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The latest figures come as western Europe emerges from its hottest summer on record, with unusually low river flows and depleted soil moisture adding pressure on farmers already affected by repeated heatwaves. Samantha Burgess, strategic lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, noted that the effects of climate change are increasingly disrupting everyday life, from transport infrastructure and schools to hospitals and wildfire response. Fossil fuel emissions remain the main driver of the long-term rise in global temperatures.
Despite another monthly breach of the 1.5-degree threshold, the world has not technically exceeded the Paris Agreement's long-term target. Global long-term warming is currently estimated at about 1.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The United Nations has warned that maintaining the 1.5-degree goal is no longer considered possible without significant additional action, while urging governments to accelerate reductions in carbon dioxide emissions to limit the extent of any overshoot.
The heat also extended to the world's oceans outside the polar regions, which recorded their joint-highest sea surface temperature for any month, according to C3S. In the tropical Pacific, rising temperatures were associated with the development of an El Nino weather pattern, which is expected to strengthen in the coming months. The phenomenon could provide an additional boost to global temperatures, adding to concerns over continued heat and extreme weather.
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