Did Global Temperatures Rise Above Pre-Industrial Levels In 2025?

On January 15, 2026, a Reddit user, ClimateResilient claimed that the global temperature in 2025 rose above pre-industrial levels. This claim, shared on January 19, 2026 was picked from the SPOTAI platform, a disinformation tracker tool.

VERIFICATION

What is Pre-Industrial Level?

The pre-industrial level refers to the average global conditions before large-scale industrialisation, especially before humans began burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) extensively. In simple terms, it means what the Earth’s climate was like before factories, cars, and power plants significantly affected it. It means what the Earth’s climate was like before factories, cars, and power plants significantly affected it.

The pre-industrial baseline typically refers to average temperatures from about 1850 to 1900. That is the period scientists use to approximate the climate before widespread industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

What To Know About Global Temperature Rise

Scientific analysis shows that global average surface temperatures in 2025 were about 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900 baseline). This is slightly higher than the 1.3°C stated in the claim. The World Meteorological Organisation, WMO’s consolidated multiple datasets and reported a global average of about 1.44°C above pre-industrial levels for 2025, with an uncertainty range of ±0.13°C. Two of the eight datasets ranked the year as the second warmest on record, and the rest ranked it third warmest.

The Met Office and UK Climatic Research Unit (HadCRUT5) estimated around 1.41°C above pre-industrial for 2025. The world’s actual annual temperature estimate can vary slightly depending on the dataset used, a value like 1.3°C is within the plausible uncertainty range, though most authoritative analyses lean closer to 1.4°C.

2024 was confirmed as the warmest year on record, reaching roughly 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels (1850 to 1900). According to WMO, The last 11 years (2015-2025) are the warmest on record globally.

CONCLUSION

The claim that the global temperature in 2025 rose above pre-industrial levels is TRUE. The World Metrological Organisation reveals that the global average surface temperatures in 2025 were about 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels, which is slightly higher than the 1.3°C stated in the claim.