Devastating wildfires and relentless heatwaves during the world’s third-hottest August on record have starkly highlighted the urgent need to combat climate change and prepare for its deadly impacts, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported Tuesday. Southwest Europe endured a third summer heatwave, while fires ravaged Spain and Portugal, and large parts of Asia experienced significantly above-average temperatures throughout the scorching month.
The crisis was amplified by the world’s oceans, which were also close to record-high temperatures. As the oceans absorb excess heat from the atmosphere, their warming is directly linked to intensifying weather extremes. Samantha Burgess of Copernicus stated that these events “underline not only the urgency of reducing emissions but also the critical need to adapt to more frequent and intense climate extremes,” a situation driven by humanity’s large-scale emissions of planet-heating gases from fossil fuels.
Globally, the average temperature in August was 1.29 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a marginal difference from the record set in 2023. Western Europe experienced the continent’s most pronounced anomalies, with southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula being hit hardest. Spain’s 16-day heatwave caused over 1,100 deaths, while wildfires forced thousands to evacuate. Scientists confirmed that human-caused climate change made the fire-prone conditions 40 times more likely.
The extreme heat was not confined to Europe. Siberia, parts of Antarctica, China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and the Middle East also saw temperatures far above average. Record-breaking ocean heat was measured in the North Atlantic west of France and the UK. The severity of the new climate normal was further emphasized as the UK, Japan, and South Korea each announced they had just sweltered through their hottest summers since national records began.
