Europe, the ground zero of global warming

BarcelonaEurope is the continent that is warming fastest in the world. This is causing a continued loss of snow and ice and increasingly extreme weather phenomena. In the year 2025 alone, several records derived from the climate crisis were registered across the continent, which caused serious consequences for the societies and ecosystems of all of Europe.

Such are the forceful data published today in the State of the Climate in Europe (ESTOC) 2025 report, prepared by the European meteorological forecasting center of the European program Copernicus's climate change service, jointly with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Recent data show a continued trend of rapid warming across Europe. It is estimated that 95% of the continent registered annual temperatures above the average during the past year. The extraordinary heatwaves registered last summer in various areas – from the Arctic to the Mediterranean – stand out, causing more days than normal with “strong thermal stress”. For example, in southern and eastern Spain, fifty more days than usual were registered with heat index temperatures above 32 °C.

Subarctic countries such as Norway, Sweden, and Finland registered the worst heatwave in their history last summer, with 21 consecutive days and temperatures above 30 °C within the Arctic Circle. The 34.9 °C recorded in July in Frosta, Norway, an absolute record for this area, is noteworthy. “Europe is the continent that is warming fastest, and the effects are already serious”, explains Florian Pappenberger, Director General of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), in the report.

It should be recalled that 2025 was the third warmest year since records began worldwide and in Europe, with a global average temperature of 1.47 °C above pre-industrial levels.

Therefore, this warming is especially evident in the colder regions, such as the Arctic or the Alps, where the reduction of ice and snow advances relentlessly. In Greenland alone, it is estimated that the ice sheet lost 139 gigatons of ice last year. In Europe as a whole, the snow-covered area was 31% lower than the average, with 1.32 million square kilometers less, equivalent to a combined area of France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. It is the third-lowest snow extent since records began in 1983. A serious problem, as snow and ice reflect sunlight back into space, which slows down climate change.

This loss of ice contributes to the rise in sea level globally and, according to the report, each centimeter of increase exposes an additional six million people to coastal flooding.

Record burned area and marine heat

Data on forest fires is also concerning. Extreme heat and droughts contributed to the generation and rapid spread of unprecedented forest fires across the continent. The total area burned in Europe in 2025 was 1,034,000 hectares, the worst figure since records began, equivalent to an area larger than the island of Cyprus. This generated a record of emissions from the same fires that contribute to the advancement of climate change, half of which occurred in Spain during the historic forest fires of last year.

Data also highlight that Europe's ocean region recorded the highest-ever annual sea surface temperature last year, thus chaining together four consecutive years of record heat. Furthermore, marine heatwaves became widespread in 2025, affecting 86% of Europe's ocean region. They were also more intense, with 36% of the region experiencing “severe” or “extreme” conditions, the highest proportion recorded. Oceans worldwide have absorbed around 90% of the excess heat produced by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

“The report paints a bleak picture: the pace of climate change demands more urgent action,” warns Samantha Burgess, Head of Strategic Climate Service at ECMWF, in the report, who also highlights the impact of extreme events and terrestrial and marine heatwaves on biodiversity. “To address the impact of biodiversity loss, we must match the speed of adaptation occurring in the transition to clean energy, while ensuring our policies and decisions are based on sound scientific data,” adds the expert.

“Our joint effort reflects how climate change is affecting biodiversity, as well as the bold initiatives adopted by European policymakers to protect and restore it,” states Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the WMO, in the report, who warns of the “energy imbalance” the planet is experiencing.

Finally, the report highlights that severe storms and floods again affected thousands of people last year across Europe, although they were less widespread than in recent years. The positive note is that renewable energies supplied almost half of Europe's electricity in 2025 (46.4%), and solar power reached a new record contribution of 12.5%.