Europe and Arctic Warming Faster
The Art
The Science
Why are Europe and the Arctic heating up faster than the rest of the world?
“As the planet continues to warm, not all regions are heating up at the same pace. Over the last thirty years, the global average temperature has increased by around 0.26°C per decade. But in Europe and the Arctic, the rate of warming is more than double the global average. Let’s have a closer look at what our data say.
According to the ERA5 dataset of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S)*, Europe is the fastest-warming continent and has warmed by approximately 0.53°C per decade since the mid-1990s, and the Arctic is warming even faster—around 0.69°C per decade.
Compared to pre-industrial levels (averaging the estimated 1850-1900 temperatures), the global average temperature has increased by around 1.3°C, according to the C3S Climate Indicator for temperature, which is based on the latest five-year averages. The Paris Agreement aims to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and preferably below 1.5°C. The latest update of our C3S Global Temperature Trend Monitor suggests that if the latest 30-year warming trend continued, we could reach 1.5°C by April 2029. For Europe, the increase since pre-industrial levels is around 2.4°C, and in the Arctic, it’s even higher at 3.3°C.
Why does the rate of warming vary around the globe?
While the long-term rise in global average temperature is mainly caused by the increase in global greenhouse gas emissions, the uneven rate of warming around the globe is influenced by a combination of factors: land areas warm faster than oceans due to the ocean’s higher heat-absorbing capacity, and changes in wind patterns and atmospheric circulation patterns can lead to regional differences. Air quality can also have an impact. For example, in areas with more air pollution, higher amounts of atmospheric aerosols reduce the amount of solar radiation that reaches the surface. This can partially offset the warming caused by increased greenhouse gases.”
https://climate.copernicus.eu/why-are-europe-and-arctic-heating-faster-rest-world Copernicus, July 14, 2025
