Europe, the living image of a world that is warming due to climate change

While part of the continent leads in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the region is witnessing a higher temperature rise than the rest of the world, especially since 1991.

Temperatures in Europe have risen more than twice the global average over the past 30 years, the highest of any continent in the world, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The State of the Climate in Europe Report reveals that as the continent’s warming trend continues, exceptional heat, wildfires, floods and other effects of climate change will affect Europe’s society, economy and ecosystems. the region.

Produced jointly with the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which provides state-of-the-art climate monitoring data and tools, the report indicates that temperatures in Europe have increased significantly during the period 1991-2021, at an average rate of about +0.5 degrees centigrade per decade.

As a consequence, alpine glaciers have lost 30 meters of ice thickness between 1997 and 2021. The Greenland ice sheet is melting and contributing to accelerating sea level rise. In the summer of 2021, Greenland experienced a widespread melting event and the first rain on record at its highest point, Summit Station.

In 2021 alone, extreme weather and climate events caused hundreds of deaths, directly affected more than half a million people, and caused economic damage in excess of $50 billion. About 84% of these events were floods or storms.

In the summer of 2022, temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius were recorded in the UK. It was the first time that 40 degrees were reached there since the systematic collection of meteorological data began. The color code ranges from green (very low danger) to deep purple (very extreme danger). (Image: UK Met Office)

It’s not all bad news. Several countries in Europe have been very successful in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, in the European Union greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 31% between 1990 and 2020, with a net reduction target of 55% by 2030.

Europe is also one of the most advanced regions in transboundary cooperation for adaptation to climate change, in particular in transnational river basins. And it is one of the world leaders in providing effective early warning systems, with 75% of people protected. Heat action plans have saved many lives from extreme heat waves.

But the challenges are formidable

“Europe paints a vivid picture of a warming world and reminds us that even well-prepared societies are not safe from the impacts of extreme weather events. This year, as in 2021, large parts of Europe have been affected by extensive heat waves and droughts that have fueled forest fires. In 2021, exceptional floods caused deaths and devastation,” recalled the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization.

Professor Petteri Taalas commented that, with regard to the climate change mitigation chapter, the good pace of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the region must continue while it must continue to increase its ambition to counteract the impact of climate change. climate.

“Europe can play a key role in achieving a carbon-neutral society by mid-century and meeting the Paris Agreement,” said Professor Taalas.

“European society is vulnerable to climate variability and change, but Europe is also at the forefront of the international effort to mitigate climate change and develop innovative solutions to adapt to the new climate with which the citizens of the continent will have to live,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

future scenarios

According to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, weather, climate and water-related disasters are expected to increase in the future. The document determines that there is a high possibility that:

-temperatures increase in all European areas at a rate higher than the global average temperature, similar to past observations and independent of future levels of global warming

-the frequency and intensity of extreme temperatures, including marine heat waves, continue to increase regardless of the greenhouse gas emissions scenario, with critical thresholds for ecosystems and humans either 2 degrees Celsius or higher

-reduce summer rainfall in the Mediterranean, spreading to the northern regions, while increasing extreme rainfall and pluvial flooding, in all regions except the Mediterranean

Impacts of climate change on health

The health of Europeans is being and will be affected by climate change in multiple ways, including death from increasingly frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves.

Health will also be affected through various ailments, with the increase in zoonoses and diseases transmitted by food, water and vectors, to which must be added mental health problems.

The deadliest extreme weather events in Europe are heat waves, especially in the west and south of the continent. The combination of climate change, urbanization, and an aging population in the region is aggravating and will further aggravate vulnerability to heat.

Climate change-induced alterations in the production and distribution of pollens and spores may lead to an increase in allergic disorders. More than 24% of adults living in the European region suffer from various allergies, including severe asthma, while the proportion among children in the region is 30-40% and rising.

Climate change also affects the distribution of vector-borne diseases. For example, ticks (Ixodes ricinus), which can spread Lyme disease and encephalitis.

According to the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization, around half a million premature deaths in the European region were caused by anthropogenic fine particle air pollution in 2019, of which a significant part was directly related to the burning of fossil fuels.

It is estimated that 138,000 premature deaths per year could be avoided by reducing carbon emissions, which could save between 244 and 564 billion dollars.

UNICEF, for its part, points out that some 125 million children, who are more vulnerable to extreme weather events, run different health risks in the region

Impact on ecosystems and transport

Climate change is also having a serious impact on European ecosystems. For example, most of the damage caused by forest fires is due to extreme events for which neither ecosystems nor communities are adapted.

Climate change, human behavior and other underlying factors are creating the conditions for more frequent, intense and devastating fires in Europe, with important socio-economic and ecological consequences.

Regarding transport, transport infrastructures and operations are at risk of different consequences, since they were built on the basis of historical values ​​of meteorological phenomena, therefore they are not resistant to current extremes.

climate policy

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the plans in which each country presents its climate action commitments under the Paris Agreement, embody efforts to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. As of March 2022, 51 European countries and the European Union had submitted one of those plans.

Climate change mitigation has been a primary objective of many European countries, especially in the following areas:

-power supply

-the Agriculture

-waste

-land use

-change of land use

-forestry

In 2021, the European Union, in its climate law, made climate neutrality, the goal of net zero emissions by 2050, legally binding. An interim 55% emissions reduction target was set for 2030. (Source: UN News)