Europe in 2025 has experienced a historic heat wave, especially in the Nordic countries, as well as rapid loss of glaciers and record high sea temperatures, as the rapidly warming continent withstands increasingly frequent climatic extremes. This was shown in a new report published on Wednesday by the European Copernicus service and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). TASR informs about it according to the AFP agency.
The report, entitled The State of the Climate in Europe, brings several key findings. At least 95 percent of the old continent had above-average temperatures last year, with Britain, Norway and Iceland recording their warmest year on record. “Since 1980, Europe has warmed twice as fast as the global average, making it the fastest warming continent on Earth,” said WMO Secretary General Andrea Celeste Saul.
She added that heat waves are more frequent and more intense, and in 2025 they will affect areas from the Mediterranean to the Arctic. Sub-Arctic Scandinavia (Finland, Norway, Sweden) experienced a record three-week heat wave, with temperatures in the Arctic reaching 30 degrees Celsius.
In Turkey, temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius for the first time, and 85 percent of the population of Greece was exposed to extreme heat around or above 40 degrees Celsius. Western and Southern Europe have been plagued by three major heat waves (in June and August) and experts are warning of a possible return of the El Niño phenomenon, which may further increase global temperatures.
Glaciers in Europe, on the other hand, saw a net loss of mass, with Iceland having the second largest loss on record. The Greenland Ice Sheet has lost about 139 billion tons of ice, which scientists say is equivalent to losing the volume of 100 Olympic swimming pools every hour. It raised the global sea level by 0.4 millimeters. The snow cover in Europe was the third smallest in history.
For the third consecutive year, more electricity was produced from renewable sources than from fossil fuels (46.4 percent), while solar energy reached a record 12.5 percent. However, EU officials warn that the transition must be accelerated and the shift away from fossil fuels intensified. The sea surface temperature was on record for the fourth consecutive year and 86 percent of Europe’s seas experienced at least one day of severe heat wave.
These phenomena damage biodiversity, for example sea grass in the Mediterranean Sea, which is sensitive to high temperatures and serves as an important habitat for fish. The fires destroyed a record area of more than one million hectares. Storms and flooding again killed at least 21 people and affected about 14,500 others, although extreme rainfall was less extensive than in previous years.
