A new report highlights the devastating impacts of climate change on Europe. In 2025, the continent had record heatwaves from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, while glaciers shrank and snow cover declined, according to the European State of the Climate 2025 report published by the World Meteorological Organization and others on 29 April 2026.
The report brings together the work of around 100 scientific contributors and provides a thorough overview of key changes in climate indicators for Europe.
In 2025, wildfires burnt over a million hectares across the continent, the largest area on record, seven in ten of Europe’s rivers had below average annual flows and the sea surface temperatures were the highest on record.
In response to the report, Will McMahon, one of the organisers of the 2026 Ecosocialist Conference taking place in London on 30 May 2026, argues: “Socialists who believing that the global climate emergency will have only a marginal impact on Europe this decade will need to take heed of these new scientific findings. Thus far, the climate emergency has had only a marginal impact on left politics in Britain, reformists and revolutionaries alike. It is time to make the climate emergency central.”
Europe is Earth’s fastest warming continent
The European State of the Climate 2025 reports that the continent is warming more than twice as fast as the global average with 95% of the landmass experiencing above average temperatures. There were heatwaves that extended from Greece to the Artic Circle, where a remarkable 30 degrees Celsius was reached.
Spain was one of the countries most impacted by rising temperatures. Following its hottest summer on record, heatwaves are now regarded as the ‘new normal’. In response, the government is establishing a national network of climate shelters ahead of next summer. Government buildings will offer people refuge from the increasingly intense heatwaves the country has been experiencing during the hottest months of the year.
A stark picture
Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, says the report “paints a stark picture – the pace of climate change demands more urgent action. With rising temperatures and widespread wildfires and drought, the evidence is unequivocal – climate change is not a future threat, it is our present reality.”
Click here to read the full State of the Climate 2025 report.
