Spain is facing increasingly severe climate-related impacts, particularly hotter, drier summers that are fuelling larger and more destructive wildfires. The fires are devastating farms, threatening lives and damaging important parts of the economy, prompting warnings that Spain is on the front line of the climate emergency.

A record blaze near Madrid burned about 80,000 hectares, destroyed much of farmer Juan Ángel Izquierdo’s land and killed or injured 20 cows. Around 300,000 hectares have burned across Spain this year, while 16,000 hectares of crops were destroyed by mid-August; agriculture contributes 9% of GDP. Researchers say climate change made the extreme conditions behind the 2025 fires 40 times more likely, and rising temperatures may also threaten tourism as some visitors find Spain’s heat increasingly uncomfortable.