US EditionEurope named ‘fastest-warming continent’ in latest climate change report
The report says record heatwaves, drought and glacier loss are worsening across the continent as renewables supply nearly half of Europe’s electricity.
- The European State of the Climate Report for 2025, published today by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and the World Meteorological Organisation, confirms Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth.
- At least 95% of Europe experienced above-average temperatures last year, driven by shifting atmospheric circulation, reduced snow cover, and geography. Europe warms faster than the global average, with the Arctic heating even more rapidly.
- Environmental impacts were severe: wildfires burned over one million hectares, 86% of European seas experienced at least "strong" marine heatwave conditions, and the Greenland Ice Sheet lost 139 billion tonnes of ice. River levels ran low for 11 months, with 70% of rivers recording below-average annual flows.
- Storms and floods claimed at least 21 lives and affected more than 14,500 people. Renewables supplied 46.4% of Europe's electricity in 2025, while fossil fuels accounted for 27.5%, showing structural energy transition progress.
- Strategic Lead for Climate at ECMWF Samantha Burgess said, "The pace of climate change demands more urgent action." Principal Adviser for Digital Green Transition at DG Clima Duaan Chrenek stressed the report is a reminder to accelerate both adaptation and mitigation efforts.
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99 Articles
Europe is the fastest-warming continent. This is shown in the latest climate status report from the World Meteorological Organization and the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. By M.-C. Werner.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, twice as fast as global average says UN-backed study
The UN's WMO and EU's Copernicus report reveals that nearly all of Europe faced above-average heat in 2025, resulting in record wildfires and sea temperatures. The continent is warming twice as fast as the global average, impacting biodiversity and prompting urgent calls for climate action.
Climate change: Longer periods of freezing temperatures are occurring in fewer and fewer places. Rising temperatures are deceiving nature reserves, both on land…
Europe is currently the fastest-warming continent on Earth. While global temperatures are rising, the rate in Europe is rising more than twice as fast, at 0.56 degrees Celsius per decade. According to meteorologist Reinout van den Born of Weerverteller.nl, climate zones are shifting rapidly: ‘Here in the Netherlands, we are getting the climate that used to be normal in Southern Europe.’
The year 2025 was marked by many negative records, as the current Copernicus climate report shows. Record heat waves, extreme storms and floods are increasing in Europe. The sea surface is as hot as never before. But also the solar energy could reach a record value. The average temperature on the sea surface had been record high for the fourth time in a row, according to the report. Fires had burned more than a million hectares, more than never …
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