2025 is set to be a big year for environmental events. Nations are setting new climate targets and national presidencies are going to change, the world over.
2024 had seen unprecedented global temperatures and was also the first year with an average temperature clearly exceeding 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level. Multiple global records were broken, for greenhouse gas levels, and for both air temperature and sea surface temperature, contributing to extreme events, including floods, heatwaves and wildfires. So, after a tragic yet eventful 2024, what does this year hold in terms of environment prospects?
2025 is expected to be a scorcher too: it will be one of the three hottest years on record globally, according to the UK’s Met Office. The world already saw deadly wildfires ravaging parts of Los Angeles, barely days into the new year, claiming lives and livelihoods. Warm temperatures are forecast in 2025 despite the Pacific Ocean moving into a La Niña phase, in which sea surface temperatures are lower than usual and conditions overall are cooler. Extreme weather events have been identified as the second highest risk over the next two years, according to the latest report by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
One of the major environmental milestones in 2025 is countries updating their climate action plans under the Paris Agreement, known as ‘nationally determined contributions’, or NDCs. It outlines how an individual country plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the 1.5°C threshold and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
This comes at the same time as that of Trump being elected to the presidency for the second time. He has said that he plans to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement — the legally binding UN treaty on climate change. He may even pull the country out of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an organization that underpins global action to tackle climate change.
In 2025, for the first time in history, renewables are poised to overtake coal as the leading power source. China predicts that their EV sales will outstrip internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles; a monumental milestone in the automotive world.
2025 marks the fourth year of Russian invasion of Ukraine and the second year of Israel’s attack on Palestine. While the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are approaching a conclusion, the years of conflict and war have led to environmental destruction, with long-lasting effects that contribute to the increased vulnerability of the affected populations.
In 2024, countries failed to reach an agreement on tackling plastic pollution, following over two years of negotiations. Delegates at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee agreed to reconvene in 2025, where it’s hoped a Global Plastics Treaty will be signed.
New and interesting satellite launches are expected this year. These will collect data on the climate as well as methane and CO2 emissions. Such satellites can offer global overviews and key details on environmental pollution and changes. For example, MicroCarb, the first European satellite dedicated to measuring atmospheric CO2 and emissions sources, is scheduled for launch in May 2025. This year will also see all seven of the other planets in the Solar System appear in the night sky at the same time, which is quite rare. Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter, and Mars will all be lining up in a neat row early this year — known as a great planetary alignment.
COP30, which marks 10 years since countries signed the landmark Paris Agreement, is likely to have mitigation set as a key focus (designing actions and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions) along with climate finance. It will take place in the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Belem, Brazil.
From climate change-induced disasters to biodiversity loss and plastic pollution, the environmental problems of 2025 paint a stark picture of the urgent need for climate change mitigation and adaptation. But the most significant moments could well turn out to be unpredictable.