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The average temperature last year was about 2.3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to an annual report from the European earth observation program Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), released Monday. This confirms Europe’s status as the world’s fastest warming continent.
According to the report, temperatures in Europe have increased by 1.5 degrees in the three decades leading up to 2021 alone. Last year, all of Europe groaned under the hottest summer on record, and it was the warmest year in many countries, including Germany, France and Great Britain.
More than 16,000 people died from extreme heat in 2022
More than 16,000 people died from extreme heat last year, while economic damage from extreme weather and climate events amounted to two billion dollars (1.8 billion euros).
WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said high temperatures are exacerbating widespread drought in Europe, causing wildfires to skyrocket in number and size and cause thousands of deaths.
Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), said last year’s developments, unfortunately, cannot be ignored on the grounds that they are “one-off or contrary to climate.” Rather, based on the developments, it can be predicted to be “part of a pattern that causes extreme heat stress to become more frequent and more intense across the region.”
However, the report saw as a positive sign that more electricity from wind and solar power than natural gas is being produced for the first time in the European Union. Their share in electricity generation last year was 22.3 percent, thus 2.3 points higher than natural gas. (AFP)
Source : Blick
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