I am not one to complain about the weather. I love a sunny summer afternoon, get a buzz from a wild, wet, windy day, relish an icy tramp through the snow… but all in the “right place”, at the “right time”. I grew up in Scotland, used to changeable weather; my work as a journalist has taken me to the coldest parts of the planet, and to some of the hottest, from the Arctic ice to the deserts of Africa and Australia. We have our expectations of what the climate should be like in different places, and prepare accordingly. But like so many Europeans this summer, I have been taken aback as temperatures even in this part of Germany peaked at 40C. Yes, unheard of in this region of the world, and early in the summer season.
The EU climate monitoring service Copernicus confirmed Western Europe as a whole saw its warmest June on record, with an average temperature of 20.49°C. Two major heatwaves led to ‘very strong heat stress’ in large parts of western and southern Europe, with ‘extreme heat stress’ and ‘feels-like temperatures’ reaching 48°C in parts of Portugal. Spain experienced its warmest June in 64 years. And even northernmost Europe sweltered under a “heat dome”.
The “good old British summer”?
Even my native UK, usually famous – or notorious – for its cool, wet, windy weather has experienced a series of extreme heatwaves. England reported the highest temperatures for June since data records began in 1884. The Glasgow region of Scotland, where I grew up, has been threatened by wildfires.
“But we’ve always had floods and storms, and 1974 was a hot summer”… ? No. The recently published State of the UK Climate report confirms this is not just a temporary blip, a natural variation:
“Observations show that our climate in the UK is now notably different to what it was just a few decades ago. We are now seeing records being broken very frequently as we see temperature and rainfall extremes being the most affected by our changing climate”, said Met Office climate scientist and lead author Mike Kendon: “Every year that goes by is another upward step on the warming trajectory our climate is on.”
Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, Professor Liz Bentley, stresses the report, based on robust observational science, “documents changes in temperature, rainfall, sea level, and weather extremes that are affecting lives, infrastructure, and ecosystems across the UK”.
The growing impact of extremes is possibly the most striking element of the observations:
“While long-term averages are shifting, it is the extreme heat, intense rainfall and droughts that are having the most immediate and dramatic effects on people and nature.”
And this is happening across the globe.
No respite for icy regions
A look at the icy regions of the planet confirms that even the bastions of cold are increasingly struggling to cope with our human-induced planetary heating. The Earth’s polar refrigerators and life-supporting mountain glaciers are under pressure. A range of studies published in the last few months and continuous observation provide some chilling insights into the warming cryosphere.
On June 23rd, the Arctic sea ice was the lowest on record:
A study published in Nature Climate Change on July 9 shows that the Arctic Ocean is losing oxygen six times faster than the global average. Warmer Atlantic water is flowing in, speeding up deoxygenation and putting marine life at risk.
Climate warming, which is even faster at high northern latitudes due to polar amplification is increasing the vulnerability of these ecosystems to fire, with potentially severe implications for the global climate. When peatlands ignite, they release massive amounts of “fossil carbon” that have been locked away for centuries or even millennia.
Canadian wildfire smoke deposits black carbon on Arctic ice sheets, which experts say may have more of a warming effect than thought earlier:
Warmer water, toxic blooms
Findings published in the journal Nature on July 7 showed that warming Arctic conditions resulting from climate change are increasing the prevalence and concentration of toxic algae in the ocean. These conditions include shrinking sea ice, expanding tracts of open water and more sunlight penetrating the ocean’s depths. Bowhead whales are ingesting toxins driven by warming in Arctic.
“We have a direct relationship between higher toxin concentrations and warmer ocean conditions,” said Kathi Lefebvre, the paper’s lead author and a research biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle .
Antarctic changes, global impacts
Since 2015, the frozen continent of Antarctica has lost an area of sea ice similar to the size of Greenland. That ice hasn’t returned, which some experts say marks “the largest global environmental change during the past decade.”
A team from the University of Southampton, the Barcelona Expert Centre and the European Space Agency warned in June that the Antarctic sea ice “may be in terminal decline” because of the unexpected satellite finding that the water there is becoming saltier:
“Saltier water at the ocean surface behaves differently than fresher seawater by drawing up heat from the deep ocean and making it harder for sea ice to regrow.”
“Losing Antarctic sea ice is a planetary problem”, the team stress. “ Sea ice acts like a giant mirror reflecting sunlight back into space. Without it, more energy stays in the Earth system, speeding up global warming, intensifying storms and driving sea level rise in coastal cities worldwide.”
Recent research published in AGU Advances indicates Earth is trapping much more heat than climate models forecast – and the rate has doubled in 20 years.
A study published in Science Daily on July 8 suggests that as glaciers melt around the world, long-dormant volcanoes may be waking up beneath the ice. New research reveals that massive ice sheets have suppressed eruptions for thousands of years, building up underground pressure. “But as that icy weight disappears, it may trigger a wave of explosive eruptions—especially in places like Antarctica. This unexpected volcanic threat not only poses regional risks but could also accelerate climate change in a dangerous feedback loop”.
The 1.5C target: too high for ice and sliding out of reach
A recent study led by Professor Chris Stokes of Durham University indicates efforts to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C, as agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement 10 years ago, may not go far enough to save the world’s ice sheets. The research suggests the target should instead be closer to 1°C to avoid significant losses from the polar ice sheets and prevent a further acceleration in sea level rise.
Alas, the latest assessment of the state of global warming suggests that the Earth could break through the symbolic 1.5C warming limit in as little as three years, if carbon dioxide emissions continue at current levels.
More than 60 of the world’s leading climate scientists were involved in the study, including Professor Joeri Rogelj, Research Director at the Grantham Institute and Climate Science & Policy Professor at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London:
“The window to stay within 1.5°C is rapidly closing”, says Rogelj. “Global warming is already affecting the lives of billions of people around the world. Every small increase in warming matters, leading to more frequent, more intense weather extremes. Emissions over the next decade will determine how soon and how fast 1.5°C of warming is reached. They need to be swiftly reduced to meet the climate goals of the Paris Agreement.”
The big disconnect
So what are we waiting for? Whether you look at science publications or the news reports of weather extremes and disasters across the globe, there can be no doubt that climate warming is already playing havoc with our livelihoods and lifestyles. At the same time the willingness to do something about it appears to be decreasing. That applies both to individuals and to policy makers. There is a huge gap between the threat we face from climate change and taking any action to respond.
Newspaper coverage of climate change around the globe dropped 6% from May to June 2025 — and by 28% compared to June 2024, despite increasing frequency and severity of climate-fueled extreme weather events.
A study using data from around the world, suggests that exposure to extreme weather events alone does not affect people’s view of climate action. The connection between climate change and natural disasters – and the link to our behaviour, consumption, fossil fuel burning – doesn’t seem to be happening. Many stories about disasters linked to climate change fail to mention the link, or indeed mention climate change at all. Making these connections clearer could encourage stronger public support for climate action.
Information battles
“There is a small window of opportunity between 2025 and 2050 to avert a looming climate catastrophe for humanity and biodiversity. Accurate and actionable climate information is a necessary part of responding to and solving the climate crisis,“ write the authors of the review in The Conversation.
Instead, there seems to be a widespread, highly influential campaign to play down the climate crisis. “Can you trust climate information? How and why powerful players are misleading the public” was the title of an article in The Conversation on July 8:
“Our study found that the human response to the climate crisis is being obstructed and delayed by the production and circulation of misleading information,” the authors write.
“We found that this is being done by powerful economic and political interests, such as fossil fuel companies, populist political parties, and some nation states”.
The Trump administration in the USA is turning back the clock: prolonging the fossil fuel era, negating decades of science and experience, and getting rid of climate expertise and data monitoring.
The German case
Here in Germany, much of life came to a standstill when the temperature reached 39C. People felt paralyzed by the heat. The country recently marked the fourth anniversary of an unprecedented flood disaster that killed 135 people, shocking this wealthy industrialised country.
Still, the willingness to admit we humans had something to do with all this – and that we could and must do something about it – is not keeping pace with worries about the cost of living or maintaining the high standard of lifestyle we take for granted. At the last election people voted out the Greens party in the government, that was pushing the energy transition and climate action. A rightwing narrative talking down climate change and branding green policies as elitist and expensive prevailed over the realisation that cheap petrol and gas heating now will have long-term costs far beyond what we can afford.
It seems to be easier to put on blinkers and carry on regardless.
The pendulum is swinging way out in the direction of global- warming- inducing behaviour and policy, an extension of the fossil fuel economy. How long will it take to swing in the other direction, towards a low-carbon world? And what will have happened on and to our planet in the meantime?
The focus is understandably shifting to adaptation. Sure, we have to build up resilience and prepare for worse to come. But we can’t afford to let that divert attention from reducing emissions and making the lifestyle changes that will protect us against even more extreme climate conditions in the very near future.
As I write this, Iran is battling temperatures over 50C and acute water shortage. Half the population of the small island state of Tuvalu have applied to move to Australia, as their island home slips beneath the waves.
As a journalist focusing on environment and climate, I find myself under pressure to produce a “positive narrative”. But on the wider scheme of things, 10 years after the signing of the Paris Agreement, with things moving backwards and emissions still on the rise, I have to admit, I am struggling.
Great Job iqiceblog & the Team @ The Ice Blog Source link for sharing this story.
