Europeans endured the hottest summer on record last year, with wildfires, floods and intense heatwaves hitting the continent, a report by EU scientists released yesterday said.
Summer temperatures were about 1°C above the average over the past three decades, with Italy even recording temperatures of 48.8°C — a provisional record for the whole of Europe.
A particularly bad heatwave in the Mediterranean helped to ignite severe wildfires, which burned more than 800,000 hectares in countries including Greece, Turkey and Italy. Meanwhile, record rainfall led to devastating floods across Belgium and western Germany that killed more than 200 people.
Photo: Reuters
The report, published yearly by the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, draws on satellite observations, on-site measurements and computer models to provide an update on the state of the continent’s climate.
“We are facing a lot of challenges,” said Mauro Facchini, head of the Copernicus Unit at the EU.
He said last year’s record temperatures and extreme weather outlined an urgent need for countries to slash their greenhouse gas emissions to avoid further heating that would unleash more destructive weather events.
Globally, the past seven years have been the warmest on record, but last year was slightly cooler as temperatures were tempered by a La Nina weather pattern which cools sea temperatures in the north of the globe.
Though nations pledged under the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, most have failed to make sufficient progress and last year, global carbon emissions rebounded strongly following a temporary COVID-19 pandemic-induced dip.
Countries are already experiencing the consequences of inaction.
Climate scientists last year found that the disastrous flooding in western Europe last summer was made at least 20 percent more likely by climate change — reflecting a long-known principle that for every degree the atmosphere heats up, it can hold 7 percent more moisture, hiking the chance of heavy rain.
“This is one of the most visible and pronounced changes that we are seeing with global warming,” Vrije Universiteit Brussel climate scientist Wim Thiery said.
Governments have made some progress in adapting to such events by creating natural flooding areas, but cutting greenhouse gas emissions was the cheapest and most effective option to limit climate hazards, he said.
Last year’s sea surface temperatures in parts of the Baltic and Mediterranean sea were the highest since satellite records began in the early 1990s, the report said.
“Parts of the Baltic were 5°C above average, which is quite a lot for” the ocean, said Freja Vamborg, a senior climate scientist at Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
IN ABSENTIA: The MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London, a niece of deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheik Hasina, condemned the ‘flawed and farcical’ trial A court in Bangladesh yesterday sentenced British Member of Parliament Tulip Siddiq to two years in jail after a judge ruled she was complicit in corrupt land deals with her aunt, the country’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina. A judge found Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, guilty of misusing her “special influence” as a British politician to coerce Hasina into giving valuable pieces of land to her mother, brother and sister. Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was given seven years in prison and considered the prime participant in the case. The trial had been carried out in absentia: Neither Hasina, Siddiq,
RSS