New analysis confirms 2025 ranks among hottest years for Western Pacific region

Abstract

The Western Pacific region recorded its fifth warmest year ever in 2025 since 1940, new analysis has confirmed. The Copernicus Climate Change Service's ERA5 dataset - the world's most advanced and widely used dataset - also noted that 2025 was the third warmest year, globally, after 2023 and 2024. As a result, communities throughout the Pacific region have been struggling to come to grips with these changes, and how they impact public health, food security, biodiversity and their economies. Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru,and Tuvalu have all reported severe water shortages over the last couple of years. The Marshall Islands declared a national emergency due to a severe drought problem in late 2023 and early 2024. Residents in its northernmost atoll group, unable to get drinkable groundwater, survived on emergency water shipments and desalination units.