Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization have issued their second joint annual report on the European State of the Climate .
Europe is the fastest-warming continent, and the impacts of climate change here are clear. 2024 was the warmest year on record for Europe, with record temperatures in central, eastern and southeastern regions.
Storms were often severe and flooding widespread, claiming at least 335 lives and affecting an estimated 413,000 people. During the year, there was a striking east-west contrast in climate conditions, with extremely dry and often record-warm conditions in the east, and warm but wet conditions in the west.
Key Facts
- Temperature: 2024 was the warmest year for Europe, with record-high annual temperatures in almost half of the continent.
- Sea Surface Temperature (SST): For the year as a whole, SST for the European region was the highest on record, at 0.7°C above average, and for the Mediterranean Sea, at 1.2°C above average.
- Rainfall: There was a distinct east-west contrast in precipitation conditions. Western Europe saw one of the ten wettest years in the analysed period since 1950.
- Flooding: Europe experienced the most widespread flooding since 2013. Almost one third of the river network saw flooding that exceeded at least the 'high' flood threshold. Storms and flooding affected an estimated 413,000 people in Europe, with at least 335 lives lost.
- Heat stress: The numbers of days with 'strong', 'very strong' and 'extreme heat stress' were all the second highest on record. 60% of Europe saw more days than average with at least 'strong heat stress'.
- Renewable energy: The proportion of electricity generation by renewables in Europe reached a record high in 2024, at 45%
- Cold extremes: The area of European land that experienced fewer than three months (90 days) of frost days was the largest on record (~69%, the average is 50%).
- Cold stress: There was a record low number of days with at least 'strong cold stress'.
- Glaciers: All European regions saw a loss of ice; glaciers in Scandinavia and Svalbard saw their highest rates of mass loss on record.
- Wildfires: In September, fires in Portugal burned around 110,000 ha (1100 km2) in one week, representing around a quarter of Europe's total annual burnt area. An estimated 42,000 people were affected by wildfires in Europe.
The European State of the Climate 2024 (ESOTC 2024) report, released on 15 April 2025, involves around 100 scientific contributors providing holistic yet concise insights into Europe's climate, including through resources such as a brand-new graphics gallery with 130 charts and infographics.
C3S is implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission. Since 2018, the service has released the ESOTC, a detailed analysis of Europe's climate for the previous year, going beyond annual temperature with analyses of a wide range of climate variables, from heat and cold stress to sunshine duration and cloudiness, from wildfires to glaciers and much more.
Florence Rabier, Director-General at ECMWF: "Under the leadership of the European Commission, ECMWF has been implementing the Copernicus Climate Change Service for more than 10 years and introduced the European State of the Climate report in 2018, which is a vital tool for monitoring climate change. We are pleased to have been publishing this report in collaboration with WMO since last year. The 2024 report reveals that almost one third of the river network exceeded the high flood threshold, and heat stress continues to increase in Europe, highlighting the importance of building greater resilience. With 51% of European cities now having a dedicated climate adaptation plan, this underscores the value of our information, which is rooted in scientific excellence, to better support decision-making around climate adaptation."
"This report highlights that Europe is the fastest-warming continent and is experiencing serious impacts from extreme weather and climate change. Every additional fraction of a degree of temperature rise matters because it accentuates the risks to our lives, to economies and to the planet. Adaptation is a must. WMO and its partners are therefore intensifying efforts to strengthen early warning systems and climate services to help decision-makers and society at large to be more resilient. We are making progress but need to go further and need to go faster, and we need to go together," said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
"This joint C3S-WMO report is a milestone achievement, leveraging the best of the EU Earth observation assets and services from Copernicus and expert knowledge in the community. Copernicus is part of the EU's investment in sovereign climate data in support of climate mitigation and adaptation in Europe," said Elisabeth Hamdouch, Deputy Head Earth Observation, European Commission.
"2024 was the warmest year on record for Europe. We observed the longest heatwave in southeastern Europe and record glacier mass loss in Scandinavia and Svalbard. But 2024 was also a year of marked climate contrasts between eastern and western Europe. The European State of the Climate is a treasure trove of quality information about our changing climate. Learning how to use climate data and information to inform our decisions should become a priority for all of us," mentioned Carlo Buontempo, Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service at ECMWF.
