The temperature in Europe in 2022 “it rose approximately 2.3 degrees above the mean of the pre-industrial period (1850-1900)”, so the continent is experiencing more rapid warmingas warned today by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)the meteorological agency of United Nations (UN)publishing this Sunday the second edition of its annual report State of the climate in Europe in 2022. He climate change It gets worse year after year.
The region suffered extreme heat waves, droughts and forest fires, “which produced more than 16,000 deaths”they added. To deal with the situation, the agency pointed out as “fundamental” the increase in the use of renewable energy.
The report, prepared jointly by the Organization and the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Union, noted that climate change is “severely” affecting people, economies and the environment in Europe, “the continent that is experiencing the fastest warming”.
According to the report, the year 2022 was marked by “extreme heat, drought and wildfires.” Sea surface temperatures reached new highs across Europe and marine heatwaves were recorded” and “glacier melting reached unprecedented levels”.
Climate crisis in Europe
Since the 1980s, the temperature in Europe “has risen twice as much as the global average temperature”which has far-reaching consequences for its socioeconomic fabric and its ecosystems, they warned.
In 2022, the temperature in the region “rose about 2.3 °C above the average for the pre-industrial period (1850-1900)the value used as a reference in the Paris Agreement,” they specified.
“To reduce dependence on fossil fuels, it is crucial to increase the use of renewable energy and low-carbon energy sources”said WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas.
In this sense, the UN agency highlighted that last year “more electricity was generated with renewable sources than with natural gas”, and wind and solar energy produced “22.3% of the electricity in the European Union, exceeding to natural gas by 2.3%”.
Taalas added that “climate services are essential to ensure the resilience of energy systems against shocks, plan their operation and take appropriate measures to enhance energy efficiency.”
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Increased mortality
The report also revealed to what extent The increase in extreme weather events, such as episodes of intense heat, heavy rainfall and droughts, have an increasing impact on the supply, demand and infrastructure of the European energy system.
For his part, the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, Carlo Buontempo, warned that the thermal stress that Europe faced in 2022 -due to weather conditions- was “one of the main causes of excess mortality”.
“Unfortunately, it cannot be considered a one-time event or an episode due to an anomaly. According to our current knowledge of the climate system and its evolution, these types of phenomena are part of a trend that will increase the frequency and intensity of extreme episodes of thermal stress throughout the region,” Buontempo explained.
Meteorological, hydrological and climatic phenomena caused 16,365 fatalities in Europe and directly affected 156,000 people in 2022according to information from the International Disaster Database.
And, of the total number of victims, the majority died from thermal stress and heat waves, they specified.
According to the WMO, about 67% of the events were related to floods and storms that caused most of the total economic damage, valued at 2 billion dollars, they concluded.
Source: Ambito
