Europe is now the fastest-warming continent on Earth.

The European State of the Climate 2024 report released by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization and Copernicus Climate Change Service confirms that 2024 was the hottest year on record for Europe, with extreme weather causing chaos across the region. The estimated losses are €18.2bn of which 85% is attributable to flooding. 

Europe is one of the regions with largest projected increase in spatial distribution of flood risk, killing at least 335 people and affecting over 413,000. The percentage of the river network that flooded during 2024 was the fifth largest in a 32-year record and the largest since 2013. Nearly one-third of Europe’s River network crossed “high” flood thresholds.  

Meanwhile, heat stress days surged, with strong to extreme heat stress levels ranking the second highest ever recorded. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming of 1.5°C could result in 30,000 deaths per year in Europe due to extreme heat, with southeastern Europe seeing the highest and fastest-rising toll 

The report also highlights an east-west climate divide: Eastern Europe faced extreme dryness, while the west battled intense rains. Moreover, since the 1980s, sea surface temperatures have risen by +0.6°C globally (60°S–60°N), +1.0°C in the European region, and by a striking +1.3°C in the Mediterranean Sea, based on the latest five-year averages, highlighting the Mediterranean as a regional hotspot of ocean warming. 

Glaciers across Scandinavia and Svalbard saw their highest mass loss on record, making Central Europe one of the fastest-shrinking glacier zones globally. 

Wildfires added to the toll, with Portugal alone burning 110,000 hectares in one week. At the same time, cold extremes hit record lows, and frost days across the continent continued to disappear. 

Changes in the polar regions, especially rapid Arctic warming, are disrupting global climate systems and intensifying extreme weather in Europe. As the Arctic warms at an average rate of 4 times faster than the global average, it weakens the jet stream, causing prolonged heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and severe floods patterns reflected in the 2024 UN State of the Climate report for Europe. Melting ice in Greenland and the Arctic also affects ocean circulation, contributing to the east-west climate divide seen in Europe, with the west experiencing wetter conditions and the east drier, hotter extremes. 

On a hopeful note, Europe’s push for clean energy is showing results with renewables generating a record 51% of electricity in 2024. And over half of European cities now have a climate adaptation plan in place. 

However, experts warn that every fraction of a degree in warming raises the stakes for lives, economies, and ecosystems. “Adaptation is no longer optional, it’s a must,” says WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. “We must go further, faster, and together.” 

Feature image: In 2024, 60% of Europe (excluding Greenland and Svalbard) saw more days than average with at least ‘strong heat stress’, where the feels-like temperature is 32°C or higher. Credit: C3S/ECMWF.

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