Record-Breaking Wildfires in Spain and Portugal: A Dire Warning for Europe

Mon Sep 15 2025 15:10:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

The wildfires ravaging Spain and Portugal in 2025 have set unprecedented records, devastating ecosystems and leading to extensive carbon emissions, emphasizing the urgent need for climate action.

This year marks the worst wildfire season in European history, with about one million hectares scorched. The Iberian Peninsula has been particularly affected, leading to alarming levels of carbon emissions and highlighting the connection between climate change and increasing fire frequency. With dramatic impacts on air quality and local ecosystems, experts warn that urgent measures are needed to combat this escalating crisis.

Wildfires in Spain and Portugal: A Record-Breaking Crisis

A record one million hectares have burned across the European Union in 2025, making it the worst wildfire season since records began in 2006. Spain and Portugal have been hit especially hard, with about 1% of the entire Iberian Peninsula scorched, according to EU scientists.

The recent intensity of wildfires in the Mediterranean has been directly linked to climate change in a study conducted by the World Weather Attribution group at Imperial College London. Experts caution that the trend of increasingly frequent and severe fires is likely to continue in the future.

In Spain, more than 400,000 hectares have burned in a season that has seen over six times the average burn area for this time of the year (2006-2024). Similarly, Portugal has suffered a record burn area of 270,000 hectares, which is almost five times the seasonal average.

The combined burned area of 684,000 hectares across the Iberian Peninsula this year is alarming—four times the area of Greater London, and much of it scorched within a mere two weeks. Fires were predominantly centered in forested regions of northern Portugal and Spain's northwest, impacting protected areas like the Picos de Europa National Park.

The deployment of the EU civil protection mechanism's firefighting force is the largest known response to this crisis, as communities grapple with diminished air quality and smoke that has drifted as far as France and the UK.

Climate change not only increases the likelihood of fire-prone conditions but is also accelerated by the wildfires, which release significant amounts of CO2. This year, CO2 emissions from the fires in Spain have reached a staggering 17.68 million tonnes, surpassing any recorded totals since 2003.

The situation highlights the urgent need for comprehensive fire management strategies to curb the number and severity of wildfires in escalating climate conditions. Some experts believe that modern advances in fire detection and prevention can help mitigate future risks, but a commitment to reducing fossil fuel consumption is imperative, according to researchers.

As Mediterranean ecosystems struggle to adapt to these new extremes, it is clear that climate resilience must become a priority, not just for the Iberian Peninsula but for all regions contending with the realities of climate change-induced wildfires.