Post Category → Climate Change

 Copernicus: August 2026 was the Hottest Month on Record

Copernicus: August 2026 was the hottest Month on Record.

Records are made to be broken, I guess. Or, at least tied.

The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reports that August 2026 was the hottest month in recorded history, tying with July 2023. August 2026 was 1.65°C above the estimated pre-industrial 1850-1900 average, marking the first month above 1.5°C since November 2025.

The data visualisation above, produced using C3S data, shows surface air temperature anomalies for August 2026 across Europe, Africa, and parts of the Arctic and Asia. 

A few Global superlatives from the monthly report:

  • The global-average surface air temperature in August 2026 was 16.96°C, 0.85°C above the 1991–2020 average, making it the warmest August globally in the ERA5 dataset, surpassing the previous joint record set in 2023 and 2024.
  • August 2026 was also the joint-warmest month ever recorded globally across all calendar months, on par with July 2023.
  • August 2026 was 1.65°C above the estimated pre-industrial 1850-1900 average, marking the first month above 1.5°C since November 2025.
  • The period from June to August 2026 was the joint-warmest on record globally, on par with 2024.

And here in Europe:

  • The average temperature over European land in August 2026 was 20.26°C, 1.10°C above the 1991-2020 average for the month, making it the fourth-warmest August on record.
  • Summer 2026 (June to August) was the third warmest on record for Europe, behind 2024 and 2022.
  • Western Europe experienced its warmest summer on record, surpassing the long-standing 2003 record. The 2026 season was marked by a succession of exceptionally early, persistent and intense heatwaves across the region.

And the world’s seas:

  • The average sea surface temperature (SST) for extra-polar oceans (60°S–60°N) in August 2026 was the highest on record for the month, at 21.07°C, surpassing the previous August record of 20.98°C set in 2023.
  • The average extra-polar SST for August 2026 was also the joint highest on record across all calendar months, on par with March 2024.
  • SSTs remained exceptionally high across much of the tropical Pacific, where El Niño conditions are present and forecast to further strengthen in the coming months, potentially into one of the strongest El Niño events on record.
  • Around Europe, SSTs reached record highs for August along the Atlantic coast and in the western Mediterranean, associated with widespread strong or severe marine heatwave conditions.

In the report press release, Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts), said:

“August 2026 was a remarkable month in the global climate record. It was both the warmest August and the warmest month ever recorded, with global temperatures reaching 1.65°C above pre-industrial levels, marking the return of global temperatures above 1.5°C. Combined with record global sea surface temperatures and the warmest summer on record for Western Europe, these observations show how climate change is driving extremes across both the atmosphere and the oceans. The impacts of these conditions are increasingly being felt by communities, economies and ecosystems across the world.”

A few media reports:

Euractiv: Heat deaths in Germany, France, Italy and Spain soar

Euractiv: Heat deaths in Germany, France, Italy and Spain soar

From the report, published on 20 August:

Europe’s four largest countries have recorded more than 25,000 likely heat-related deaths in 2026 so far, according to latest data compiled nationally.

Summer temperatures across Europe have repeatedly surged past 35°C over the last few months, with record‑breaking heatwaves triggering public health alerts and putting care systems under strain. The four most populous EU countries – Germany, France, Spain and Italy – are among the hardest hit, each reporting sharp increases in heat-related deaths.

Taken together, the countries’ figures amount to more than 25,000 heat-related deaths.

The number is likely to rise in August and September.

Link.

Scientific American: Earth’s oceans just hit their hottest temperature ever

Scientific American: Earth’s oceans just hit their hottest temperature ever

The previous high of 21.09 C (69.96 F) occurred in March 2024. From the report:

Average ocean temperatures hit a record 21.10 degrees Celsius (69.98 degrees Fahrenheit) on August 22, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

That’s not as hot as a warm bath, but it is the hottest the world’s oceans have been since C3S started keeping records in 1979.

“As a climate scientist, this is not surprising to me all,” says Zachary Labe, a climate scientist at Climate Central, a climate research nonprofit. “It’s consistent with decades of research showing how our climate is changing as the planet warms. And without reductions in the burning of fossil fuels, this warming will only continue.”

Link.

Continue reading →

Grist: Why Egyptian farmers are growing crops under solar panels

Grist: Why Egyptian farmers are growing crops under solar panels

The short answer: agrivoltaics produce shade that reduces evaporation and plant stress – while generating clean electricity. From the story:

Researchers around the world are finding that instead of solar panels stopping plants from flourishing, what with all that shade, they can supercharge growth. Many plants evolved to grow in the dappled light of the forest floor, for instance, and struggle under full sun. The partner groups and farmers in Egypt are experimenting with different arrangements of panels, like a checkerboard. This doesn’t generate as much electricity as a sprawling solar farm, with row after row of solid panels with few gaps, but it lets more sunlight reach the crops.

For now, the power generated is helping to run irrigation equipment at one of the two pilot project communities,

but could also potentially power desalination plants for purifying the region’s brackish water. With that additional H2O, more places could support agriculture and agrivoltaics — a self-reinforcing cycle. 

Link.

NYT: What the Newest Research on Wildfire Smoke Tells Us (It’s not good.) – Gift Link

NYT: What the Newest Research on Wildfire Smoke Tells Us. (It’s not good.) – Gift Link

Research is in the early stages but scientists have found:

That people are being exposed to more toxins than previously known, and beyond damaging lungs, wildfire smoke may affect hearts, brains and other organs. One study in 2025 estimated that smoke could kill as many as 1.9 million people in the United States over three decades.

And

Wildfire pollution is often measured by the concentration of airborne particles known as PM2.5, which can penetrate deep into the lungs.

But that can understate risk, said Kari Nadeau, a physician and dean of the U.C.L.A. Fielding School of Public Health, who is studying the consequences of the 2025 Los Angeles fires. That’s because PM2.5, a primary pollutant measured by air quality indexes, doesn’t reflect other substances that wildfire smoke can contain, including lead, mercury and formaldehyde.

The NYT story will be updated as new research is published. This gift link expires in 30 days; I’ll try to remember to update it once a month but if you cross paths with the post and find that the link no longer works, let me know and I’ll update it.

Link.

American Meteorological Society “State of the Climate” Report Confirms Record-high Greenhouse Gases, Global Sea Level, and Ocean Heat in 2025

International “State of the Climate” Report Confirms Record-high Greenhouse Gases, Global Sea Level, and Ocean Heat in 2025

The 36th annual State of the Climate report, led by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was released by the American Meteorological Society on 10 August. The key takeaways: greenhouse gas concentrations, global sea level, and ocean heat content all reached record highs in 2025.

Notable findings:

  • Earth’s greenhouse gas concentrations were the highest on record
  • Record and near-record temperatures were notable across the globe
  • Despite cool ENSO and weak La Niña conditions, sea surface temperatures were at near-record-high levels
  • Ocean heat and global sea level were the highest on record
  • The Arctic saw near-record warmth
  • Antarctica saw record warmth and continued low sea ice; and
  • Glaciers around the world continued to melt.
Continue reading →

Guardian: Destroyed crops, riverbed cyclists and a ‘Rock of Starvation’: how drought has devastated the Danube

Guardian: Destroyed crops, riverbed cyclists and a ‘Rock of Starvation’: how drought has devastated the Danube

A Guardian reporter and photographer traveled 100 miles (160km) along the banks of the Danube, the EU’s longest river, to document the impacts of its record-low levels. The Danube flows through or forms the border of 10 countries, making it most international river in the world. The describe crop loss and failure, unnavigable areas, and drinking water emergencies. Below, an account by the president of the Hungarian Cyclists Club who embarked on a bike ride on the river.

The water is so low in the capital that on 28 July, at about 4.30pm, Gábor Kürti, president of the Magyar Kerékpárosklub (Hungarian cyclists’ club) and owner of a cargo bike company, left his office in central Budapest, jumped on his bicycle and, in an unprecedented feat, rode for 30km along the exposed bed of the Danube, with his journey quickly going viral on social media.

“I wanted to show that if you can cycle along the bed of the Danube for 30km, it means that, because of this climate emergency, we have literally hit rock bottom,” he told the Guardian.

Riding his KTM X-Strada 20 gravel bike, Kürti set off from the mouth of the Szilas stream (Szilas-patak) and made his way across fine gravel, large pebbles, hard-packed sand and mud, eventually reaching the ferry terminal at Vác about three hours later.

“For many people it was an extraordinary adventure. For me, it was heartbreaking,” he said. “Cycling through parts of the river where, as a child, I used to swim or go kayaking, and which I could now cross on a bicycle, filled me with an indescribable sadness. It was like looking at the scene of a terrible accident. Throughout that journey, the scale of the catastrophe was unfolding before my eyes.”

Link.

EuroNews: A Japanese Inventor is Turning Soil Into a Source of Electricity

EuroNews: A Japanese Inventor is Turning Soil Into a Source of Electricity

Well grounded? Japanese designer Satoshi Nakagawa is using soil, compost and other everyday materials to generate small amounts of electricity that could power sensors, lights, and other low-energy devices in off-grid settings.

EuroNews via AFP reports:

Glinting in the night, halfway up a hill in Japan, the greenhouse-like ‘Ku-An’ test lab is lit by electricity harnessed from 1,500 wooden boxes of soil and compost.

Designer Satoshi Nakagawa has long battled sceptics, but believes that the technology powering the 800 LEDs has a role to play in solving humanity’s energy conundrum. Failing that, it at least looks nice and gets people thinking.

“As the population moves toward 10 billion, energy issues will become just as critical as food issues,” says Nakagawa, chief executive of design firm Tripod Design. “Even if it’s just a small contribution, I want people to be able to produce their own electricity using the soil around them,” the Japanese product designer and engineer told news agency AFP.

Link.

Copernicus: Oceans Hit Hottest Temperatures on Record for July

Copernicus: Oceans Hit Hottest Temperatures on Record for July

The world’s oceans hit their highest temperatures on record for July, Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program, reported today. Other stats of note for July 2026:

  • Globally, the month was the joint second warmest July on record, tied with July 2024 and behind the record set in July 2023, with an average surface air temperature 1.47°C hotter than the estimated pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900 average).
  • The average temperature for June–July for western Europe was the highest on record, at 21.62°C or 2.79°C above average, surpassing the previous record from 2022 and reflecting the exceptional persistence of heat since the beginning of summer.
  • The average Sea surface temperatures for the extra-polar ocean (60°S–60°N) in July 2026 was the highest on record for the month, at 20.96°C, surpassing the previous July record of 20.89°C, which was set in 2023.
  • Sea surface temperatures remained at exceptionally high levels across a large portion of the tropical Pacific, an area where current El Niño conditions are forecast to further strengthen in the coming months.
  • Around Europe, Sea surface temperatures reached record highs for July along the Atlantic coast and western Mediterranean, associated with widespread strong or severe marine heatwave conditions.

Said Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF):

“July 2026 was the third consecutive month of exceptional heat in western Europe, bringing the combined temperature for June and July to a new record for the region. Persistent high-pressure systems trapped heat over western Europe, the extreme temperatures also amplified widespread drought. As soils dry out, they lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build more readily. This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat extremes, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing one another.”

Link.

NYT: Birds Are Dying. Clues Point to El Niño. (Gift Link)

NYT: Birds Are Dying. Clues Point to El Niño. (Gift Link)

Sad news, a story on bird die-off from this week’s NYT Climate Forward newsletter. This comes on top of bird population decline already linked to climate change-related impacts.

Every month, Giovanny Suárez Espín walks a beach near his home in southern Ecuador, monitoring for dead seabirds. Usually, he sees maybe a handful.

But on recent surveys, the sand has been littered with carcasses.

It’s too soon to say for certain what has caused the spike in deaths, which has affected various species, including sooty shearwaters, Peruvian and blue-footed boobies, cormorants, petrels and the critically endangered waved albatross. Die-offs in sea birds aren’t uncommon, and can stem from a variety of factors. In 2023, Ecuador saw mass deaths from avian influenza, said Sebastián Cruz, a seabird ecologist who runs the South American marine bird program for American Bird Conservancy.

It’s too soon to say for certain what has caused the spike in deaths, which has affected various species, including sooty shearwaters, Peruvian and blue-footed boobies, cormorants, petrels and the critically endangered waved albatross. Die-offs in sea birds aren’t uncommon, and can stem from a variety of factors. In 2023, Ecuador saw mass deaths from avian influenza, said Sebastián Cruz, a seabird ecologist who runs the South American marine bird program for American Bird Conservancy.

But this time, he said, looks different. The birds’ bodies are emaciated. Testing for bird flu is needed, but the few necropsies that have been conducted, along with the behavior of surviving birds, show no signs of infection. And critically, sea surface temperatures off the coast have been exceptionally elevated.

Gift link.

Copernicus: Europe’s major rivers at record low water levels

Copernicus: Europe’s Major Rivers at Record Low Water Levels

Yesterday’s Image of the Day from the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation programme shows record low water levels from four of Europe’s largest rivers. More specifically:

Copernicus Sentinel-2 images acquired between 1 and 3 August 2026 reveal exceptionally low water levels along sections of four of Europe’s largest rivers: the Loire near Saumur in France, the Po near Cremona in Italy, the Rhine near Boppard in Germany, and the Danube near Paks in Hungary. Extensive sandbanks and gravel bars, normally hidden beneath the water, are clearly visible in each scene, illustrating the widespread impact of the prolonged drought which is affecting much of Europe.

The consequences extend well beyond the riverbanks. On the Rhine, reduced water levels are limiting cargo transport and disrupting industrial supply chains across central Europe. Along the Danube, the image shows the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, where low river discharge is creating serious operational challenges for reactor cooling. In Italy, the level of the Po River continues to cause mounting pressure on irrigation, hydropower generation, and freshwater availability, while the Loire reflects hydrological conditions consistent with the severe hydrological stress affecting large parts of western Europe.

The Copernicus product portfolio includes two Drought Observatories, managed by the Copernicus Emergency Management Service, which provide, respectively, drought indicators and early warning for droughts in Europe (EDO) and worldwide (GDO).

Link.

IEA Report: EV Sales Surge in Q1, Double Year on Year in Some Major Markets in First Half of 2026

IEA Report: EV Sales Surge in Q1, Double in Some Major Markets in First Half of 2026

More specifically, since Trump and Netanyahu launched their dimwitted war on Iran.

Global sales of electric cars fell in the first quarter of 2026, largely reflecting lower sales in [China and the US]. But according to the report, they rebounded sharply in the second quarter – rising 35% compared with the first three months of the year as second quarter sales reached record levels in 50 countries. In Australia, Brazil, India, Korea and Viet Nam – all sizeable electric car markets – sales roughly doubled between March and June compared with the same period in 2025. Overall, more than 90 countries recorded year-on-year growth in electric car sales during the first half of 2026.

The report, ‘Electric Car Markets in a Time of Uncertainty‘, was released on 30 July.

Press release link.

NYT: In Ohio, Toxic Wastewater Is Bubbling Up Out of the Ground – Gift Link

NYT: In Ohio, Toxic Wastewater Is Bubbling Up Out of the Ground – Gift Link

I spent a dozen years in southeastern Ohio, it’s where I studied and came of age. Some of my closest friends live in the area so this hits close to home.

In historic Marietta, Ohio, riverboats churn past shores once surveyed by George Washington. Trolleys bump along brick roads that pass between Victorian homes and 2,000-year-old Adena and Hopewell burial mounds. Its cemeteries hold more Revolutionary War officers than anywhere else in the nation.

And there is something else buried deep beneath Marietta: Hundreds of millions of gallons of radioactive fracking wastewater.

For years, it has arrived in a caravan of tanker trucks that come night and day to deposit the toxic brine in injection wells that pump it thousands of feet underground, where it is supposed to stay forever.

But the brine is spurting to the surface, and locals fear it could soon contaminate the drinking water source for 32,000 people. “It would destroy the city,” said Susan Vessels, president of the Marietta City Council. “Once the damage is done, it cannot be undone.”

Gift link.

NYT: Earth’s Warming Primed France and Spain to Burn, Scientists Find – Gift Link

NYT: Earth’s Warming Primed France and Spain to Burn, Scientists Find – Gift Link

NY Times coverage of last week’s World Weather Attribution report confirming that climate change is driving severe wildfire conditions in France and Spain:

Conditions as hot, dry and windy as those leading up to the giant wildfires in France and Spain this week have become more likely in those countries since humans began warming the planet, according to a new analysis.

A team of scientists examined weather records to see how often the regions around Bordeaux, in southwest France, and Madrid have been as parched and primed to burn as they have been in the past few weeks. The researchers’ findings are the latest evidence that parts of Southern Europe should expect huge fires to become a recurring threat.

The report also references a study published last week in the journal Scientific Reports that found:

that in large parts of Mediterranean Europe, the number of extremely hot, dry and windy summer days more than doubled from 1981 to 2025.

Fire prevention and firefighting capabilities can’t keep up, the study concludes.

The New Yorker: Why Is Europe Burning?

The New Yorker: Why Is Europe Burning?

Recent wildfires in southwestern France and central and eastern Spain have caused record-breaking destruction, burning 285,000 hectares (704,000 acres) and temporarily displacing 300,000 residents and tourists across the two countries in recent weeks. In France, it was the largest peacetime evacuation ever. Writing for The New Yorker, wildfire researcher and journalist M.R. O’Connor reports that climate change, which is fueling record-breaking temperatures, plays an important role, but so do modern forestry management and rewilding practices and rural depopulation in an area (Mediterranean Europe) which historically has experienced hot and dry summers and is “naturally predisposed to burn because of an annual cycle of wetting and drying”.

In June, Stephen Pyne, a former wildland firefighter and an emeritus professor of history at Arizona State University, published his forty-sixth book, “Undying Fire: A Fire History of Europe.” When I called him, he posed me one of his central questions about megafires: “Why is it that countries that we think of as modernized—those that have money, science, technology—are the ones that are being clobbered?” Climate change is, of course, part of the story. “Fossil fuels give you power,” Pyne told me, but burning them “disrupts the climate in ways that make fires more powerful.” Extreme fire weather, exceptionally dry, windy, and often warm conditions, is on the rise globally. That said, climate change is happening everywhere—and, in Pyne’s account, only some areas are experiencing worsening fires. This is one of the mysteries he’s interested in.

O’Connor continues:

I was surprised that in my reporting, experts from different backgrounds agreed about several things. They warned that countries need to involve local people in their fire-management strategies, and to balance suppression with prevention. They argued that communities could reduce wildfire risks by managing lands and not letting them go wild. One way for European countries to prevent fires is by supporting rural livelihoods and traditional practices such as grazing, farming, forestry, and the intentional setting of controlled fires. If people want to keep conflagrations in check, nature needs people. “What people need to realize is that this is a structural issue in society,” a Spanish fire professional told me. “We’ve turned our backs on the mountains, on nature—and cities have never been so affected by it.”

Link.

Carbon Brief Analysis: Wind and solar power overtake fossil fuels in Germany for first time ever

Carbon Brief Analysis: Wind and solar power overtake fossil fuels in Germany for first time ever

More evidence to illustrate that the transition to renewables is succeeding, despite political blowback and weakening commitments. In 2025, for the first time, most of the electricity in Germany came from wind and solar power than from fossil fuels. From a Carbon Brief analysis:

Together, wind and solar power generated 225 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity – accounting for 44% of the total in 2025 – with just 217TWh (43%) coming from fossil fuels.

Solar and onshore wind have grown rapidly under Germany’s “Energiewende” strategy over the past two decades, as the nation transitions away from both coal and nuclear power.

Renewables have recently faced mounting opposition from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the current coalition government has been trying to develop new gas-power plants.

Nevertheless, Carbon Brief analysis of Energy Institute data illustrates how wind and solar have continued growing, emerging as the nation’s largest power source.

Nevertheless, Carbon Brief analysis of Energy Institute data illustrates how wind and solar have continued growing, emerging as the nation’s largest power source.

And

The success of renewables in Germany mirrors the EU as a whole, which also saw wind and solar overtake fossil-fuel power generation in 2025 for the first time.

Link.

The Conversation: Wildfires – why media coverage doesn’t always make the climate connection

The Conversation: Wildfires – why media coverage doesn’t always make the climate connection

Doug Specht, an expert in climate communication at the University of Westminster, offers an insightful analysis of how the recent wildfires burning in France and Spain (and elsewhere) have been reported, from both UK and French perspectives.

In the UK, he writes:

Europe’s fires were written up as a combination of holidays spoiled, energy policy rows, domestic civil protection issues and continental emergencies. All the articles were true, but what separates them is how far back each story begins. A fire can be explained by today’s barbecue, yesterday’s wind direction, by a dry spring, by four decades of land use change, or by a century of emissions.

Deciding how a story of a wildfire is placed in history, and in the climate change narrative, is often determined by one of three things. First, which desk the story lands on: travel and news desks usually seek stories of disruption, while environmental desks look for causes. Second, how far away the fire is, and third, where the news outlet stands on decarbonisation.

News runs on novelty – something must have changed since yesterday for it to qualify as a story. That is why the moment of ignition is reportable, but the conditions that led to that ignition are usually not.

In France, Specht notes, there has been a shift in narrative.

Looking at how French media report extreme weather, we can see real change in both language and prominence. Bulletins that once described a canicule exceptionnelle — an exceptional heatwave, an oddity — now routinely call these occurrences symptoms of le dérèglement climatique, climate disruption. This is an important shift: exceptions belong to a day; symptoms imply history and trajectory.

Regional papers such as La Dépêche du Midi and Corse-Matin have managed it best, partly because they are still there after the flames die down, reporting replanting, firebreaks and how to keep older residents safe in the heat. That is where a slow process becomes visible: not in the fire, but in the years either side of it.

What next?

Journalism, and news, will not abandon “the event”. Fires are news and they should be reported, urgently, vividly and from the scene.

The issue is how to avoid readers assuming that a fire is the whole story, when the event is, in fact, just the moment at which a long process becomes attention grabbing. When reporting stops there, it is accurate about the day but misleading about the decade.

It is not the the reader or viewer’s job to supply the causal context an article leaves out. To place media literacy as the solution would concede to the idea that reporting will not improve. It is editors and correspondents who have the capacity to responsibly tell the climate story as both drawn-out and very fast events.

This means treating the conditions beforehand as part of the story, rather than merely background. So, a fire report should carry the spring rainfall figures as routinely as it carries the acreage burned. It also means keeping a running memory, so that each fire is reported in light of the last, rather than in isolation.

It means paying for journalists’ return visits because recovery, replanting and adaptation are where a slow process becomes visible. And it means recognising that a newspaper’s disasters desk and environment desk are describing one world, and should not be left to describe two.

The full article is here.