January 2025 Breaks Records As the Warmest On Record, Despite La Niña Transition

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

February 7, 2025

The year 2025 has started with a record-breaking January, marking the warmest January on record, continuing the trend of extreme global temperatures despite the shift to the cooler La Niña weather pattern.

Key Facts

January 2025 continued the pattern of unusually high global temperatures, with the average temperature being over 1.5°C higher than pre-industrial levels in 18 of the last 19 months, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
The global temperature for January was 1.75°C higher than pre-industrial levels.
This warm streak continues even as the world shifts from the previous warming El Niño phase, which contributed to making 2024 the hottest year on record, to the cooling La Niña phase. La Niña is characterized by the cooling of equatorial Pacific waters, typically limiting the global temperature rise.

Important Quote

“The fact that we are still seeing record temperatures outside the influence of El Niño is a bit surprising,” said Samantha Burgess, strategy manager at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

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Key Story

El Niño peaked more than a year ago, and Copernicus estimates that La Niña has not yet fully developed, placing the world in a neutral state between the two phases.

Despite La Niña’s cooling effect, Burgess notes that it might not be enough to temporarily curb global temperatures. Other factors contributing to the heat include extreme temperatures in other ocean basins and, most importantly, the ongoing greenhouse gas emissions, which are the primary driver of global warming.

“The biggest factor contributing to climate warming is the burning of fossil fuels,” says Burgess.

Scientists from Berkeley Earth have projected that 2025 is likely to be the third warmest year on record, following 2024 and 2023. Although La Niña may cause some cooling, uncertainty remains about how it will develop.

Globally, average sea surface temperatures for January 2025 were the second highest ever recorded for the month, only slightly surpassed by January 2024.

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Only 1% Of Cyprus Farms Use Precision Farming Technologies

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

July 24, 2026

Cyprus remains one of the European Union’s least digitised agricultural economies, with just 1% of farms using precision farming technologies in 2023, according to Eurostat.

The findings come as the EU continues to encourage the adoption of digital tools aimed at improving agricultural productivity, efficiency and sustainability.

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Internet Access Expands, But Digital Uptake Lags

Internet access has improved across the bloc, although adoption remains uneven. Eurostat found that 43% of EU farms had internet access in 2023, with northern and central European countries leading the way.

Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Austria all reported internet access rates above 90%.

Greater connectivity, however, has not translated into widespread digital adoption. Farm management information systems, which help farmers manage day-to-day operations, were used by only about 11% of EU farms. France was a notable exception, with around 60% of farms using the technology.

Precision Farming Concentrated In Larger Operations

Robotics adoption also remained relatively limited, with only about 7% of EU farms using robotic technologies. Overall, around 18% of farms with utilised agricultural area employed at least one precision farming technology or practice in 2023.

These included robotics for plant protection, band spraying, variable-rate application, precision crop monitoring and soil analysis. Despite representing fewer than one in five farms, these holdings accounted for around 44% of the EU’s utilised agricultural area.

The figures suggest that precision farming remains concentrated among larger agricultural businesses, where investment in digital technologies is typically easier to support.

Cyprus Lags Behind EU Leaders

Luxembourg, Finland and Estonia recorded the highest shares of utilised agricultural area managed by farms using precision farming technologies, each exceeding 75%.

At the other end of the ranking, Cyprus recorded just 1%, while Greece and Romania reported between 10% and 15%. The results indicate that Cyprus remains at an early stage of digital adoption in agriculture, even as precision farming becomes more widespread across parts of the European Union.

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