IntelScoops

Brussels, Belgium — While July 2025 marked a slight break in the world’s string of record-shattering heat, climate scientists warn that the effects of global warming are only becoming more dangerous and widespread.

According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, last month was the third-hottest July ever recorded, with extreme weather battering communities across continents. Torrential flooding in Pakistan and northern China, intense wildfires in Canada, Scotland, and Greece, and relentless heatwaves in Asia and Scandinavia are just a glimpse of what a warming planet continues to unleash.

“Two years after the hottest July on record, the recent streak of global temperature records is over,” said Carlo Buontempo, Director of Copernicus. “But that does not mean climate change has stopped. We continue to witness the effects of a warming world.”

A Temporary Dip, Not a Reversal

July temperatures were 1.25°C above pre-industrial levels (1850–1900), slightly cooler than the record-setting months in 2023 and 2024, which surpassed 1.5°C — the key threshold set under the Paris Agreement. But even this seemingly modest drop failed to lessen the human and ecological toll.

“Extreme heatwaves, catastrophic floods, and persistent drought continued to dominate the global climate landscape in July,” Buontempo said. In some Gulf countries and Iraq, temperatures soared above 50°C. Turkey experienced such highs for the first time in its recorded history. Deadly floods in China and Pakistan killed hundreds, while Spain reported over 1,000 heat-related deaths, though fewer than last year.

Oceans Absorbing the Worst

Not just the atmosphere, but the world’s oceans continued to heat at alarming levels. It was the third-hottest July ever for sea surface temperatures, with local records broken in the Norwegian Sea, North Sea, and North Atlantic. Arctic sea ice was 10% below average, the second-lowest extent for July in nearly five decades.

The loss of reflective ice cover means darker ocean waters are absorbing more solar radiation, amplifying global warming. Scientists warn that over 90% of the planet’s excess heat is now being absorbed by the oceans — an ominous sign for marine ecosystems and weather systems.

Uneven Impacts, Global Concern

While parts of North and South America, India, and Australia saw below-normal temperatures, the bigger picture remains clear. Eleven countries — including China, Japan, North Korea, Tajikistan, Bhutan, Brunei, and Malaysia — experienced their hottest July in over half a century. In Europe, the Nordic countries saw an extraordinary run of heat, with Finland experiencing more than 20 days above 30°C.

Meanwhile, drought gripped more than half of Europe and the Mediterranean region, the worst July conditions since European Drought Observatory monitoring began in 2012.

“Expect Worse,” Scientists Warn

Despite the statistical respite in July, climate experts remain unequivocal: emissions from burning fossil fuels remain the primary driver of rising global temperatures.

“Unless we rapidly stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere,” said Buontempo, “we should expect not only new temperature records but also a worsening of impacts — more heatwaves, more floods, and more lives at risk.”

The science is clear: the climate crisis is not a linear narrative of heat records, but a growing drumbeat of extremes — already unfolding, already deadly.