WMO to Release Unified Global Temperature Benchmark for 2025, Powering the Next Generation of Climate Intelligence

New consolidated dataset fuses satellite, sensor, and model-driven records to deliver decision-grade climate signals for governments, platforms, and innovators.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) will publish the official global temperature figures for 2025 on 14 January 2026, delivering a single, authoritative climate benchmark built by consolidating the world’s leading international temperature datasets.

Timed to align with simultaneous releases from major climate data providers, the update will refresh WMO’s provisional State of the Climate assessment — first presented at COP30 in Belém, Brazil — which indicated that 2025 is on track to rank as the second or third warmest year ever recorded.

For technology leaders, climate scientists, and data-driven decision-makers, the release represents a critical moment in global climate data harmonisation.

From Fragmented Signals to a Single Source of Truth

WMO’s consolidated figure integrates datasets from eight of the world’s most advanced climate-monitoring systems, including:

• Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5) – ECMWF

• Japan Meteorological Agency (JRA-55)

• NASA GISTEMP v4

• NOAA GlobalTemp v5

• UK Met Office / University of East Anglia (HadCRUT 5)

• Berkeley Earth

• DCENT (UK/USA)

• CMST (China)

Six datasets are derived from ground-based weather stations, ships, and ocean buoys, using advanced statistical methods to fill observational gaps. Two — ERA5 and JRA-55 — are reanalysis systems, blending historical observations, satellite data, and physics-based models to produce high-resolution, continuous climate records.

Each dataset uses distinct methodologies, often yielding slightly different temperature values and rankings. WMO’s role is to synthesize these streams into a coherent, trusted global signal — a foundation increasingly relied upon by policymakers, financial systems, insurers, and climate-tech platforms.

“As climate data volumes grow, the challenge is no longer measurement — it’s integration,” a WMO official noted. “Our consolidated temperature figure exists to support faster, more confident decision-making across sectors.”

Why This Matters for the Tech Ecosystem

The 2025 global temperature release underscores how climate monitoring has become a large-scale data engineering challenge, involving:

• Sensor networks across land, ocean, and space

• Statistical gap-filling and uncertainty management

• Model-driven reanalysis pipelines

• Cross-border data standardisation

For builders in climate tech, AI, risk analytics, digital twins, and Earth-observation platforms, WMO’s benchmark acts as a reference layer — enabling interoperability across products, forecasts, and policy tools.

Call to Action: Build on the Climate Data Stack

WMO encourages early adopters across:

• Climate and sustainability platforms

• AI and analytics companies

• Infrastructure, finance, and insurance sectors

• Policy and resilience planning teams

to engage with the consolidated dataset once released, integrate it into forecasting and risk models, and align reporting frameworks with internationally validated climate indicators.

As extreme heat, climate volatility, and adaptation pressures accelerate, trusted, unified data will increasingly determine who can act — and who falls behind.

The official 2025 global temperature figures will be released on 14 January 2026, providing a shared reference point for climate action in the year ahead.