January 2025 has been recorded as the warmest January thus far, setting unprecedented levels of global temperatures observed by climate scientists.
According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, “January 2025 was 1.75 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level.” January 2025 was the “18th month in the last nineteen months for which the global-average surface air temperature was more than 1.5 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial level.”
The latest State of the Global Climate reports show that “2024 as the hottest year since records began 175 years ago, with a global mean temperature of 1.55 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.” This is the first time global temperatures have surpassed the Paris Agreement critical warning threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The 2016 Paris Agreement set goals to hold the increase of average global temperature at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Multiple climate experts have warned of the long-term hazards caused by avoiding the goals of the United Nations’ (UN) Paris Agreement.
The UN explained that “while a single year above 1.5 degrees Celsius doesn’t break the Paris Agreement’s long-term goals (a long-term average below 1.5 degrees celsius), it is a stark warning of the urgent need for emissions reduction”
Citing the alleged “unfair economic burden imposed on American workers, businesses, and taxpayers by U.S. pledges made under the Agreement,” United States (U.S) President Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement during his first term in office.
President Trump announced this move in 2017. After three years of waiting, the U.S. became the first nation to withdraw from the climate agreement in 2020. President Joe Biden returned the U.S. to the agreement, then President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement again soon after his second inauguration.
As President Trump signed the executive order, he proclaimed, “I’m immediately withdrawing from the unfair, one-sided Paris climate accord rip-off.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of the potential repercussions of a Trump presidency on international climate targets and policies, and how the withdrawal of the U.S. could cause major setbacks for the progress of the agreement.
“It’s very important that the United States remain in the Paris Agreement, and more than remain in the Paris agreement, that the United States adopts the kind of policies that are necessary to make the 1.5 degrees still a realistic objective,” Guterres said.
President Trump recently signed the Protecting American Energy From State Overreach executive order on April 8, 2025. According to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, this order centralizes energy regulations at a federal level: “It directs the federal government to dismantle what it views as unlawful or overly burdensome state and local regulations that impact the development and use of domestic energy resources.”
The executive order claims that state laws and regulations of fuel and gas corporations are “unconstitutional” because they threaten “American energy dominance” and interstate and international commerce, posing a threat to federal power. The order blames states such as Vermont, New York and California for “extorting” and “imposing excessive fines” on energy production companies that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation explains that upon the identification of climate laws, “the Attorney General must take immediate action to stop their enforcement. The focus is particularly sharp on state policies tied to climate change, carbon emissions, and environmental justice, where the order asserts states have overstepped their bounds.”
With this order, the Trump administration has continued increasing already record-high U.S. oil and gas production, further increasing carbon emissions. Energy-related carbon emissions have risen by 1.5 percent worldwide. This consistent increase in carbon emissions contributes to the yearly rise in global temperature.
President Trump completed some of his goals outlined in Project 2025 with his executive order, “Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements.” This legislation removed the U.S. from various organizations or treaties that work to reverse the effects of climate change.
On Jan. 20, 2025, Trump ordered an immediate withdrawal from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a platform for climate change negotiations. Its creation allows countries to hold each other accountable and negotiate efforts to reverse climate change.
The Trump administration describes the U.S. withdrawal as prioritizing economic power and saving the country from any actions that could hinder that power.
