European State of the Climate 2025: What the Latest Report Means for Climate Action and Commercial Buildings

The European State of the Climate 2025 report, produced by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), paints a stark picture of the impacts of climate change across Europe.

Following on from our previous blog, [1.5°C: The Hottest Year on Record], the latest report shows how long-term warming trends are continuing to affect Europe, which remains the fastest-warming continent.

The report confirms that record-breaking temperatures, prolonged heatwaves, shrinking glaciers, warmer seas, increasing drought pressure and wildfire activity are becoming more common. These changes are placing growing pressure on ecosystems, water resources, agriculture, infrastructure and public health.

It also highlights the importance of climate action, noting that renewable energy continues to grow, supplying nearly half of Europe’s electricity in 2025. Together, the findings underline the urgent need to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen adaptation measures to help communities, economies and environments cope with a changing climate.

Key findings from the report

Europe remains the fastest-warming continent. At least 95% of Europe experienced above-average temperatures during 2025, continuing a decades-long warming trend.

Extreme heat also reached unprecedented areas. A record three-week heatwave affected sub-Arctic Scandinavia, with temperatures exceeding 30°C inside the Arctic Circle, something that would once have been extraordinarily rare.

Snow and ice continued to decline. European glaciers lost mass across every monitored region, Iceland recorded its second-largest glacier mass loss on record, the Greenland Ice Sheet lost around 139 billion tonnes of ice, and Europe’s March snow cover was around 31% below average.

The oceans were exceptionally warm. Sea surface temperatures around Europe reached their highest annual values on record, with 86% of European seas experiencing at least strong marine heatwave conditions.

Water resources were also under pressure. Around 70% of European rivers had below-average annual flow, reflecting widespread drought conditions across much of the continent.

Wildfires reached record levels, with approximately 1.03 million hectares burned during 2025, the largest area recorded in the ESOTC dataset.

The report also notes one positive trend: renewable energy continued to expand. In 2025, 46.4% of Europe’s electricity came from renewable sources, with solar contributing a record share.

Overall, the report argues that these are not isolated weather events but part of an ongoing long-term warming trend driven primarily by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. The combination of higher temperatures, shrinking snow and ice, warmer oceans, drought and more frequent extreme events increases risks to ecosystems, agriculture, infrastructure and human health across Europe.

What does this mean for commercial buildings?

For the built environment, the report is another reminder that climate action is not just about future targets. It is also about the buildings we own, occupy and manage today.

Commercial buildings have a direct role to play in reducing emissions through improved energy efficiency, lower-carbon heating and cooling systems, better controls, LED lighting, fabric improvements and renewable technologies. These are also the areas that can influence a non-domestic EPC rating and support a practical MEES strategy.

A poor EPC rating is not only a compliance concern. It can also indicate that a building may be more exposed to rising energy costs, changing occupier expectations and future regulatory pressure. As temperatures rise and demand for cooling increases, understanding how a building performs, where energy is being wasted and which improvements are most effective becomes increasingly important.

MEES and EPC planning should therefore be viewed as part of wider asset and risk management. It gives landlords, property owners and asset managers a clearer view of where their buildings stand today, what improvements may be needed, and how to prepare portfolios for the direction of future regulation and climate-related risk.

At MEES Solutions, we help clients understand the current energy performance of their commercial buildings and identify realistic, evidence-based routes to improvement, whether that is for compliance, EPC optimisation, portfolio planning or longer-term decarbonisation strategy.