Nearly all of Europe experienced extreme heat and weather in 2025, the European State of the Climate 2025 report from the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization found. The year brought unprecedented heatwaves, the continent’s largest recorded wildfire season and the warmest sea surface temperatures on record for the region.
Experts warned the events underline the need for faster climate action. Samantha Burgess of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts said rising temperatures, widespread drought and fires make climate change an immediate reality demanding urgent response.
Heat on land and sea
At least 95% of Europe saw above-average annual temperatures. The United Kingdom, Norway and Iceland each recorded their warmest year on record. Multiple major heatwaves swept the continent; one lasted 25 days and affected several countries. Sub-Arctic Norway, Sweden and Finland experienced 21 days of extreme heat stress, compared with roughly two days they would typically expect. Spain suffered its most intense heatwave since at least 1975.
Longer-term warming persists: five of Europe’s 10 warmest years have occurred since 2019. Sea surface temperatures across European waters reached their highest annual average for the fourth consecutive year, harming marine life and contributing to mass mortality events and disruptions to food webs.
The human cost is severe. The Lancet Countdown estimates nearly 63,000 heat-related deaths in Europe in 2024, and researchers report rising temperature-related mortality in almost all monitored regions since 2014. Celeste Saulo of the World Meteorological Organization noted that Europe is warming about twice as fast as the global average, with broad impacts on societies and ecosystems.
Drought, wildfires and water scarcity
More than half of Europe experienced drought conditions in May, and soil moisture fell to record low levels in many areas, threatening crops and increasing wildfire risk. In total, more than 1 million hectares burned across the continent in 2025, the worst wildfire season on record. Greece saw one of its most severe outbreaks when 50 separate fires ignited within 24 hours. Drought also reduced river flows, leaving over two-thirds of European rivers below their average annual levels.
Energy: mixed effects
Sunny, dry conditions boosted solar generation: every EU country expanded its solar capacity in 2025. Renewables increased their share of power amid concerns over fossil fuel instability tied to geopolitical tensions. Renewables supplied nearly half of Europe’s electricity, and for the first time wind and solar together generated more power than fossil fuels in the EU, according to Ember.
Solar reached a new milestone, providing about 13% of the continent’s electricity, marking the fourth consecutive year of solar growth exceeding 20%. In Hungary, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and the Netherlands, solar contributed about one-fifth of national electricity production. Beatrice Petrovich of Ember said the milestone demonstrates how quickly the EU is shifting toward a power system centered on wind and solar and highlights the strategic value of clean domestic energy.
Melting snow, retreating ice and rising seas
Warming affected Europe’s frozen regions as well. In March, snow cover losses equaled an area roughly the size of France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland combined, with the biggest declines in Eastern Europe. Glaciers retreated across nearly every European region; Iceland recorded its second-largest annual glacier loss since 1976.
Greenland’s ice sheet lost about 139 gigatons of ice in 2025. Over the past half-century, ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica has contributed roughly three centimeters of global sea level rise. Each additional centimeter of sea level rise increases the number of people exposed to coastal flooding by about six million.
Edited by: Tamsin Walker