Climate change is helping to make wildfires that ravage hundreds of thousands of hectares of land on the Iberian Peninsula every year more common and intense, according to a new study.
Researchers from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) network said in the study released on Thursday that the hot and dry conditions driving wildfires in Portugal and Spain, as well as other parts of Europe, were 40 times more likely to occur because of climate change.
The publication comes weeks after a heatwave and deadly wildfires hit Europe, highlighting similar findings warning of increasingly fire-conducive weather conditions in the Mediterranean.
“The fires in Spain in 2025 were the worst in 30 years, almost quadrupling the average annual area burned during that period,” the WWA concluded.
“In Portugal, the area burned was 2.3 times larger than the annual average since 1980.”
More than 380,000 hectares (940,000 acres) were burned this year in Spain, and 280,000 in Portugal.
Both countries account for two-thirds of the one million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land ravaged by wildfire across Europe this year – “the worst” since the Copernicus European Forest Fire Information System started recording in 2006, the WWA said.
In total, more than 1 percent of the Iberian Peninsula’s surface area was burned in 2025, the report added.
At least four people were reported killed due to the wildfires, while thousands were forced to evacuate.
“With further warming, more extreme, concurrent fire-weather will continue to challenge firefighting resources and push the limits of adaptation,” the report warned.
The researchers also noted that rural depopulation and an ageing population across parts of Portugal and Spain have left forest land unmanaged, creating dense fuel loads and conditions more vulnerable to wildfires.
Throughout August, the Iberian Peninsula saw unusually high temperatures, with thermometers topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many areas.
In Spain, more than 1,100 deaths were blamed on the 16-day heatwave, according to an estimate released by the Carlos III Health Institute.
Spain’s State Meteorological Agency described the heatwave as “the most intense” on record.
Intense wildfires were also reported in countries such as France, Italy, Greece, Albania and Turkiye this year.
WWA said the wildfires also had devastating effects on nature, harming protected national areas of Spain and Portugal, including habitats of 395 endangered, vulnerable or specially protected species.
