Record-breaking 2025 Iberian fire season was three times larger due to climate change
The latest global State of Wildfires report, co-led by the University of East Anglia, shows that the extreme fire-prone weather experienced across Spain and Portugal in 2025 was three times more likely due to human-caused climate change, and the area burned was three times larger. The paper is published in Earth System Science Data.
The 2025 Iberian fire season set a record, burning an area three times larger than usual due to climate change, according to the State of Wildfires 2025–2026 report. Scientists from the University of East Anglia, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and the Met Office found that the extreme fire conditions were three times more likely to occur because of human-induced climate change.
The report highlights that climate change is making the most severe wildfires more likely, intense, and damaging globally. In Iberia, more than 40,000 people were evacuated as 14 megafires raged, with Spain recording its highest burned area since 2002 and Portugal experiencing the largest single wildfire on record. Fires with similar intensity could burn one-third more area in the next 20 years if climate change continues.
The report emphasizes that reducing anthropogenic emissions can significantly impact the future size of such events.
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