Reports noting that global temperatures continue to reach historically high levels highlight the ongoing need to campaign on climate issues, Jesuit Missions has said.
Analysis from the Copernicus Climate Change Service showed 2025 was the third-hottest year on record, marginally behind temperatures for the two years previous.
The slight drop was put down to “natural cooling” attributed to the Pacific Ocean’s La Niña weather pattern, but the numbers remain significantly higher than those logged a decade ago.
It also means that worldwide temperatures exceeded a three-year average of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels – the Paris Agreement signed in 2015 aimed to cap global warming at this figure for the long-term.
Paul Chitnis, Director of Jesuit Missions, said: “With global temperatures reaching record levels in recent years, it is clear that national governments must take urgent action to secure the future of our planet.
“Extreme heat and other abnormal weather patterns have a devastating impact on many of the places where Jesuit Missions supports projects, including South Sudan, Madagascar and India.
“We will continue to raise awareness of this and put pressure on those in power around the world, to help secure a safer and fairer society for all.”
With increased carbon emissions heating up the planet, scientists and climate experts have warned that high temperatures will continue unless changes are made.
“Atmospheric greenhouse gases have steadily increased over the last 10 years, [and] human activity remains the dominant driver of the exceptional temperatures we are observing,” said Laurence Rouil, Director of Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
“The atmosphere is sending us a message, and we must listen.”
Jesuit Missions has consistently campaigned on the effects of climate change, pointing to the disproportionate impact it has on many of its partners living and working in the Global South.
Through actions such as mass letter-writing it has urged politicians in the UK to promote measures to combat this, and it has actively taken part in climate summits including the United Nations’ Conferences of the Parties (COPs).
You can find out more about Jesuit Missions’ campaigns and advocacy efforts here.
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