Another set of figures showing how the climate is warming has been released, with the EU’s Copernicus climate monitoring service indicating that 2025 was the third-hottest year on record.
It was, the scientists have revealed, 0.13°C cooler than 2024, which was the hottest year on record, and 0.01°C cooler than 2023, which was the second-hottest year so far.
The slight dip in temperatures in 2025 unfortunately does not mean that the climate is cooling, because myriad factors lead to fluctuations from one year to another.
Copernicus has said that we have just been through the hottest three-year period on record.
The statistics have also shown that the world is getting perilously close to breaching the maximum temperature threshold set by the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aimed to prevent average temperatures going more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
With the world struggling to agree on how to deal with climate change – as this report from John Dennehy on US climate action highlighted – we can expect temperatures to continue to rise.
In the Gulf region this is likely to mean that the air will become more humid, a leading climate researcher has warned in this article that discusses the Copernicus findings.
The consequences of hotter temperatures are likely to range from increases in heatwaves to the loss of corals.
Prof Phil Hart, chief researcher at the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Research Centre at Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute, has outlined what a world that is 3°C hotter could look like.
For those concerned about the climate and the environment it may be an alarming read, as it demonstrates starkly how much is at stake as the world struggles to limit carbon emissions.
Growing crops and rearing fish in the Sharjah desert
The countryside in Sharjah might not seem like the most obvious place in which to combine the rearing of fish with the growing of crops, but that is exactly what one Emirati agriculturalist has done to great effect.
Mohamed Al Nuaimi has created a circular system in which fish waste helps to nourish various types of crop, with water recycled back into the fish tanks.
While he set up his farm as a pilot project on a modest scale, Mr Al Nuaimi is confident that the system could turn a profit if expanded, not least because the produce it generates could be classed as organic and so be attractive to shoppers who will pay more for top-quality food.
The National spoke to Mr Al Nuaimi for this article, which highlights how the system combines aquaculture (the rearing of fish or other organisms) with hydroponics (in which crops are grown without soil).
Zayed Sustainability Prize ceremony showcases eco-friendly innovations
A raft of innovations that could help the environment have been highlighted at a ceremony for the Zayed Sustainability Prize, where winners were presented with their awards by President Sheikh Mohamed.
These include a Singaporean company's method of turning food waste into biodegradable packaging, something that should extend the shelf life of food.
Another notable winner was a company in Nepal that has found a way to produce earthquake-resistant bricks using a low-carbon approach that replaces the use of coal-fired materials.
These ideas and more are discussed in this piece by Shireena Al Nowais, which also showcases eco-friendly innovations from the UAE.
The big fact
Copernicus, the EU's climate-change monitoring service, has found that 2025 was the second-hottest year on record in terms of temperatures over land (it was the third-hottest ever when it comes to the planet as a whole). It was also the second-hottest year ever for the Arctic and the warmest ever for the Antarctic.
Jargon buster
Sea ice: Sea ice is frozen sea water that floats on the surface, and contrasts with glaciers and icebergs, which come from the land. Copernicus reported this week that in February 2025 the two poles recorded their lowest combined area of sea ice since satellite observations began nearly half a century ago.
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