Key developments
Europe's latest climate report shows record heat
Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization say 2025 was exceptionally hot across Europe, with at least 95% of the continent above historical averages. The report says Europe is warming more than twice as fast as the global average, with the UK, Norway and Iceland recording their warmest years on record, Spain logging its hottest summer since 1961, more than 1 million hectares burned, river flows below average across much of the continent, and Greenland losing 139 gigatonnes of ice.
Why it matters
The report shows climate impacts are now hitting heat, water, fire risk and ice loss across most of Europe.
Sources & driving stories
EURONEWS · Angela Symons
Euronews coverageAL JAZEERA
Al Jazeera coverageSanta Marta talks push fossil-fuel phaseout
Colombia and the Netherlands opened a two-day Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels conference in Santa Marta, drawing more than 50 countries to discuss concrete pathways to phase out oil, gas and coal. Delegates are debating subsidy reform, worker transitions and whether any future roadmap should be legally binding, while the U.S. and China are absent. Colombia's environment minister called the meeting a possible turning point and a complement to the COP process.
Why it matters
It is a new diplomatic track focused specifically on fossil-fuel phaseout language and implementation.
Sources & driving stories
NPR · Julia Simon
NPR coverageTHE GUARDIAN
The Guardian coverageStudy finds deep ocean warming toward Antarctica
A study published in Communications Earth & Environment reports that deep-ocean heat has shifted poleward toward Antarctica over roughly the past 20 years. Using decade-scale transects, Argo floats and machine learning, the researchers found circumpolar deep water expanding onto the Antarctic continental shelf, which can melt ice shelves from below and reduce the buttressing that slows inland ice flow. The authors say this is the first observational evidence of the Southern Ocean shift.
Why it matters
Warm-water intrusion under ice shelves could accelerate Antarctic ice loss and sea-level rise.
Sources & driving stories
TIME · Simmone Shah
Time coverageWorth noting
WORTH NOTING
NOAA budget hearing targets climate monitoring
The FY2027 proposal would cut NOAA by about 26% and terminate 35 projects, raising fresh concerns about climate and weather data capacity.
WORTH NOTING
Tropical rainforest loss fell in 2025
The reported slowdown still leaves 4.3 million hectares lost and fires as a major driver, so forest-carbon risks remain high.
WORTH NOTING
Indigenous climate finance remains tiny
A UN forum highlighted that Indigenous peoples and local communities received less than 1% of global mitigation and adaptation funding from 2011 to 2020.
Still unclear
OPEN QUESTION
Can Santa Marta become binding?
The conference is explicitly debating whether fossil-fuel phaseout commitments should stay voluntary or become legally enforceable.
OPEN QUESTION
How far will Antarctic warm-water intrusion spread?
The study has just detected the poleward shift, but the next data will show whether it keeps advancing onto the shelf and deepening ice-shelf melt.