Climate change driving conditions for Iberian wildfires: Study

According to a recent study, climate change is making the wildfires that affect hundreds of thousands of hectares of land on the Iberian Peninsula each year more frequent and intense.

According to a study released on Thursday, researchers from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) network found that climate change is 40 times more likely to cause wildfires in Portugal and Spain, as well as other regions of Europe.

The publication comes a few weeks after a heat wave and deadly wildfires hit Europe, bringing together findings that warn of Mediterranean fire-conducting weather.

The WWA declared that Spain’s fires in 2025 were the worst in 30 years, almost quadrupling the average annual burned during that time.

The burned area in Portugal was 2.3 times that much as it had been annually since 1980.

More than 380, 000 hectares (940, 000 acres) were burned this year in Spain, and 280, 000 in Portugal.

According to the WWA, both nations make up two-thirds of the one million hectares (2,5 million acres) of wildfire-ravaged land in Europe this year, which is “the worst” since the Copernicus European Forest Fire Information System began recording in 2006.

More than 1% of the Iberian Peninsula’s surface area burned overall in 2025, according to the report.

The wildfires caused at least four fatalities, according to reports, and a large number of people were forced to flee.

The report warned that “with further warming, more extreme, concurrent fire-weather will continue to put the limits on firefighting resources and push the boundaries of adaptation.”

The researchers also noted that unmanaged forest land has become a result of rural depopulation and an ageing population in parts of Portugal and Spain, making dense fuel loads and hazy conditions more susceptible to wildfires.

The Iberian Peninsula experienced unusually high temperatures throughout the entire month of August, with many locations experiencing thermometers that exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

More than 1,100 deaths were related to the 16-day heatwave in Spain, according to an estimate from the Carlos III Health Institute.

The heatwave was “the most intense on record,” according to Spain’s State Meteorological Agency.

This year, intense wildfires were reported in countries like France, Italy, Greece, Albania, and Turkiye.

According to WWA, wildfires also had devastating effects on nature, harming 395 endangered, vulnerable, or specially protected species habitats in Spain and Portugal.