Image: © Ekaterina Pokrovsky/Stock.adobe.com
Last year saw record-breaking extreme weather events across Europe as a result of human-induced global heating.
Across Europe temperatures are rising and extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity, according to the latest European State of the Climate report. Despite these accelerating climate effects, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) reached record levels around the world.
Released today (22 April) to coincide with Earth Day, the report describes 2023 as “a year of contrasts” which saw several climate records broken. These include the highest number of days of “extreme heat stress”, highest December river flows, the largest wildfire recorded and the hottest marine heatwave in the north-eastern Atlantic.
A collaboration between Copernicus, the EU’s Climate Change Service, and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations climate agency, the report combines several datasets to provide a snapshot of how the climate crisis is affecting the continent.
For the last 40 years, Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average, and 2023 was the joint warmest year on record – tying with 2020 – at 1 degree Celsius above average and 2.6 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level. The three warmest years on record for the continent have occurred since 2020, and the 10 warmest since 2007.
There were several marine heatwaves throughout the summer. The average sea surface temperature for the European ocean was the warmest on record, and the north-eastern Atlantic saw well above average sea surface temperatures from May to October. In June, the marine heatwave in the Atlantic Ocean around Ireland and the UK was classified as “extreme” and even “beyond extreme” in some areas, with temperatures as high as 5 degrees Celsius above average.
Precipitation was 7pc above average for the year, with widespread flooding and storm activity. Flooding affected 1.6m people, with 44 people dying as a result, and more than half a million were affected by storms, with 63 people dying.
If you thought last year was wetter ☔ than normal, you were right!
The new #ESOTC report reveals most of Europe was around 7% wetter than average in 2023 with Ireland 🇮🇪 among a number of countries that experienced more wet days than normal.
👉https://t.co/kMpe0qyiLi#EarthDay pic.twitter.com/YfRCEAeAPf
— EU Commission in Ireland (@eurireland) April 22, 2024
Most of Europe saw fewer than average days with snow and glaciers across all European regions saw a net loss of ice. Glaciers in the Alps lost 10pc of their volume in the last two years.
In the Arctic, sea ice remained lower than average for most of the year. The region has been warming around three times faster than the global average. In 2023, the Svalbard region was one of the fastest warming places on Earth, with the highest recorded average summer temperature. In Greenland, heatwaves led to higher-than-average annual ice loss.
Parts of Europe suffered from extreme heatwaves, wildfires and droughts. Greece suffered a wildfire twice the size of Athens, the largest ever recorded in the EU. Across the continent, 36,000 people were impacted by wildfires, with 44 people dying as a result.
A map of forest fires across Europe. Data comes from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). Image: EFFIS/CEMS
Aligned with global crisis
Europe’s pattern of increasing extremes of weather is part of a global trend of accelerating climate effects. Globally, 2023 was the warmest year on record, with nearly half the days seeing temperatures of more than 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial level. For the first time, two days were more than 2 degrees warmer than the pre-industrial level.
In the first six months of 2023, global sea levels rose to a record high, with the rate of rise accelerating, and Antarctic sea ice reached an all-time minimum in February. The melting of ice sheets over the last 50 years has caused sea levels to rise by nearly 3cm. The report estimates that for every centimetre of sea level rise, around 6m people are exposed to coastal flooding.
‘GHGs reached record levels’
In spite of overwhelming evidence of human-induced global heating and numerous international pledges to fight the climate crisis, GHGs continued to increase last year, reaching record levels. The report warns that the increasing concentrations of GHGs is causing the near-surface temperature to rise “with significant impacts”.
Europe needs climate adaptation plan
According to the report, extreme heat has been the leading cause of weather-related deaths in Europe since 1970. Between 2000 and 2020, these deaths were estimated to have increased in 94pc of European regions. The report predicts increases in the frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves, leading to serious consequences for public health, and warns that current heatwave interventions will soon be insufficient to deal with heat-related health issues.
The report reveals how European countries are failing to grasp the urgency of the crisis on this continent. It highlights how countries have emphasised mitigation efforts in their national policies, with few including sufficient adaptation plans. Having analysed policies from 50 European countries to have signed the 2015 Paris Agreement, just 12 were found to have included health in their adaptation plans, with 11 referencing climate-sensitive health risks and only five highlighting health risks from extreme weather events and vector-borne diseases. Just four countries referenced heat-related illnesses.
As well as major negative health impacts, the economic cost of the climate crisis is being felt across Europe. The report estimates losses of €13.4bn as a result of the climate crisis last year, and this figure excludes data from heatwaves, which is not yet available. More than four-fifths of the economic losses were attributed to flooding.
“The climate crisis is the biggest challenge of our generation,” said Celeste Saulo, secretary-general of the WMO. “The cost of climate action may seem high, but the cost of inaction is much higher.”
Described as a “milestone report” because it is the first to be jointly produced by Copernicus and the WMO, this latest data provides detailed scientific evidence for policymakers to update climate action plans to address the key climate issues in a rapidly escalating crisis. Saulo called for the leveraging of science “to provide solutions for the good of society”.
Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus, said the data presented in the report was “ever more vital in preparing for the impacts of climate change” in the face of increasing temperatures and extreme weather events.
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