Last year was very sunny and warm, emphasising climate change

2025 was an extremely sunny year and the sixth warmest since formal records began in 1901, national weather bureau KNMI said in its latest look at the Dutch climate in a global context.

The average temperature at the De Bilt weather station near Utrecht was 11.4°, the KNMI said. All of the top 10 warmest years took place this century, with seven of them in the past 10 years.

With an average temperature of 18.5°, last summer was the fourth warmest on record and in total, the KNMI said, the Netherlands has warmed up by 1° since 2000.

“We’ve seen the impact of climate change elsewhere in the world this year, with the wildfires in Spain and Portugal in particular,” said the KNMI’s chief scientific officer Maarten van Aalst.

“In the meantime, global emissions of carbon dioxide are increasing and that means it will be even harder to reach the Paris Agreement targets. Climate change is continuing and that is bringing new risks for the Netherlands as well.”