Scotland's biggest wildfire, bad harvests and a 'false autumn' show just how much our climate is changing

And this year, although only two thirds in, has already given us plenty to discuss. The past few months have been marked by extremes, with everything from gales and floods to heatwaves and droughts.

Now the latest statistics show what we’ve all been expecting. Summer 2025 was the UK’s hottest in modern history, replacing the previous record-holder, 2018. We may not have had the unprecedented highs of previous years – the mercury shot over 40C for the first time in 2022 – but temperatures over the past three months have been significantly above the usual for the time of year.

And the baking summer, with four heatwaves, followed the warmest and sunniest spring on record. May was not just Scotland’s warmest and sunniest May ever, but also its sunniest month since records began in 1910. England saw its warmest June.

Low-grade barley, stunted broccoli

The long sunny spell has been welcomed by many, but it has brought its own problems. Even in Scotland, a country more used to complaining about dreich, soggy seasons, parts of the country have been so dry, particularly the east, that water use has been rationed.

Farmers have been struggling with harvests due to the conditions, with crops like barley ripening early but at lower grade than expected – forcing some producers to sell it as animal feed instead of for malting at whisky distilleries. Meanwhile, broccoli has been coming out of the fields stunted and of poor quality, sparking fears of shortages.

Tinder-dry ground also contributed to numerous wildfires across Scotland, including an outbreak on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh and the largest ever – a blaze which raged across moorlands in the Highlands for several days and left 29,225 acres of charred ground in its path. We’ve also been experiencing a ‘false autumn’, where plants and trees drop their leaves early due to heat stress.

Several factors have contributed to the persistent warmth, according to meteorologists, including a dominant high-pressure system, dry spring soils reducing evaporative cooling, and a significant marine heatwave around the UK pushing up air temperatures.

But climate change is also playing a part, as demonstrated in the figures. This is “a clear sign of the UK’s changing and warming climate”, the Met Office has said. “All these factors point to the influence of climate change. The UK is warming at about 0.25C per decade, a seemingly small amount but one that is having a significant impact on summer weather.”

The danger of ‘business as usual’

This year’s scorching summer has knocked out 1976, renowned for its heat, from the UK’s top five hottest summers since 1884. And the new top five have all occurred since 2000. Globally, 2024 was the hottest year so far, joining a worrying trend that shows all ten of the world’s hottest years have taken place in the past decade.

The effects of climate change include warmer and wetter winters, hotter and drier summers, and more frequent and intense weather extremes.

All of this provides first-hand evidence of how planetary heating is affecting everyone everywhere, and will continue to escalate if we carry on ‘business as usual’.

Back in 2015, nearly 200 countries signed up to the Paris Agreement, with a mission to restrict warming to 1.5C above 1990 levels and avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Now, a decade on, that target is looking increasingly unattainable – predictions range from a 2.7C rise by 2100 if emissions continue at current levels, up to 5.7C if emissions ramp up.

On this trajectory, the impacts on people and nature will be devastating. Large parts of the world will become uninhabitable due to high temperatures and sea level rise, while growing food and access to fresh water will become increasingly challenging.

Urgent action required

Scotland may be a tiny country and not itself a signatory to the UN climate pact, but we must play our fair part in the drive to hold back climate breakdown. Urgent, effective and fair action has never been more important.

Now, as autumn begins and the weather turns wet and blustery, politicians returning to parliament after a hot and sweaty summer recess must focus on what’s at stake and what needs to be done.

The Scottish Government is due to publish the draft of the country’s new Climate Change Plan later this autumn, setting out how five-yearly emissions-reduction targets and the goal of reaching net zero by 2045 will be met.

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland’s 70-plus members want to see a clear route map which contains bold, measurable action that will make Scotland a greener, healthier, fairer and safer place, with support for people in Scotland to shift to low-carbon lifestyles and for those in low-income countries where climate destruction is hitting the hardest.

Strong measures – like cheap and accessible public transport, energy-efficient homes and support for green jobs and climate and nature-friendly farming – will not only tackle warming but will also create a healthier society, cut the cost of living and build more resilient communities. In about two weeks’ time, more than 500 people will meet their MSPs to call for these measures at a mass climate lobby, showing the widespread public support for action.

Protecting our planet is not about what we can’t have. It’s about the safer, fairer world we can and should have. And all political parties should be working together and doing as much as they can to make sure we get it.

We all love talking about the weather, so let’s get on and do something about preventing more dangerous extremes.

Becky Kenton-Lake is coalition manager for Stop Climate Chaos Scotland