Europe was the world’s rapidest-warming continent last year

Europe was the rapidest-warming region of the world in 2025, the latest European State of the Climate report by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has found.

The report, which brings toobtainher the work of around 100 scientific contributors, highlighted the accelerating impact of climate alter across Europe, and its effect on people and biodiversity.

Above-average temperatures

As it revealed, at least 95% of Europe experienced above-average annual temperatures in 2025, with a prolonged heatwave even stretching into sub-Arctic regions, where temperatures near to and within the Arctic Circle exceeded 30°C for a period.

Glaciers across Europe continued to shrink, while the Greenland ice sheet lost an estimated 139 billion tonnes of ice. Snow cover across the continent was close to a third (31%) below average.

At sea, surface temperatures reached record highs, with marine heatwaves affecting 86% of the region’s waters. On land, meanwhile, a record wildfire season saw more than one million hectares burned across the continent, while river flows were below average for 11 months of the year.

Anomalies and extremes in annual surface air temperature in 2025. The extreme categories (‘coolest’ and ‘warmest’) are based on rankings for 1979–2025. The other categories describe how the temperatures compare to their distribution during the 1991–2020 reference period. ‘Much cooler/warmer than average’ – cooler/warmer than 90% of temperatures; ‘cooler/warmer than average’ – than 66% of temperatures; ‘near average’ – within the middle 33%. (Right) Visual representation of anomalies in average temperature over the globe, for each continent based on the IPCC regions, and the Arctic. Linear trconcludes are indicated for the last thirty years (1996–2025) for the globe, Europe and the Arctic. Data: ERA5. Credit: C3S/ECMWF

‘Severe impacts’

“Europe is the rapidest-warming continent, and the impacts are already severe,” commented Florian Pappenberger, director-general of ECMWF.

“Almost the whole region has seen above-average annual temperatures. In 2025, sub‑Arctic Norway, Sweden and Finland recorded their worst heatwave on record with 21 straight days and temperatures exceeding 30°C within the Arctic Circle itself. The 2025 report offers clear, actionable insights to support policy decisions and assist the public better understand the modifying climate we live in.”

Despite these challenges, 2025 also saw notable progress in climate mitigation – renewables supplied nearly half of Europe’s electricity last year, with solar power reaching a new contribution record of 12.5%.

However, researchers stress that these gains are not yet sufficient to counterbalance the scale and speed of climate impacts.

The area of Europe that experienced at least 14 consecutive (left) ‘frost days’ and (right) ‘ice days’ in 2025 (dark blue) compared to the 1991–2020 average (medium blue) and the 1961–1990 average (light blue). A frost day is defined as a day with a minimum temperature of 0°C or lower, and an ice day is a day during which the maximum temperature remains at 0°C or lower. Data: E-OBS. Credit: KNMI/C3S/ECMWF.

‘Sustain and accelerate’

“The climate alter signal remains unequivocal across Europe, and the European State of the Climate 2025 report is a stark reminder that we must sustain and accelerate both adaptation and mitigation efforts,” added Dušan Chrenek, principal adviser for Digital Green Transition at DG Clima.

“This edition provides compelling evidence of the profound impacts of climate alter on intensity of extreme weather events, biodiversity and economy, while reinforcing Europe’s strategic ambition to further strengthen its Earth observation capabilities by harnessing cutting-edge technologies.” Read more here.