No pause in climate change despite slight cooling in July

According to the European climate monitoring service Copernicus, this past July was the third-warmest ever recorded worldwide. Although it didn’t surpass the unprecedented temperatures of July 2023 (the warmest since records began), the agency cautions that this brief pause in record-breaking heat does not signal a halt to climate change.

"Two years after the warmest July since records began, the recent streak of global temperature records has now slightly paused", said Carlo Buontempo, Director of Copernicus. "But that doesn’t mean climate change has stopped", he stressed.

Despite not setting a new global record, extreme weather events intensified around the world. Several countries experienced all-time high temperatures, with Turkey reaching 50°C for the first time ever. New heat records were also reported across Scandinavia and parts of Asia.

Meanwhile, Pakistan and northern China endured extreme rainfall, and wildfires ravaged parts of Canada and Greece.

© Copernicus

As in June, the global average temperature in July showed a slight decline compared to the record-breaking heat of the previous two years. Last month, the global temperature was 1.25°C above pre-industrial levels – still well above normal, but below the 1.5°C threshold that was exceeded in both 2023 and 2024. That threshold, outlined in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, is considered a critical limit for avoiding the most dangerous impacts of climate change.

Despite this temporary dip, experts warn against complacency. Carlo Buontempo, Director of Copernicus, stressed that unless the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere is quickly stabilised, not only are new temperature records likely, but the consequences of climate change will worsen.