Temperatures rising in Europe twice as fast as global average: WMO

Europe is the continent where warming is progressing most rapidly, with temperatures that rose more than double the world average in the last 30 years, the UN warned on Wednesday.

Temperatures in Europe experienced a considerable increase in the period 1991-2021, with an increase of around 0.5 °C per decade, noted the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) of the UN and the European service on climate change Copernicus in a report.

“This is the fastest warming among the six regions defined by the WMO,” said the secretary general of this body, the Finn Petteri Taalas, in the foreword to the report on the climate in Europe.

The Arctic, which as a whole is warming faster than Europe, is not considered by the organization as a region, spokeswoman Clare Nullis told AFP.

As a consequence of the rapid warming of Europe, the glaciers of the Alps lost 30 meters of thickness between 1997 and 2021.

Also, the Greenland ice sheet is melting, helping to accelerate sea level rise. In the summer of 2021, Greenland recorded rainfall for the first time at its highest point, the Summit station.

Europe “offers a living picture of a warming planet and reminds us that even well-prepared societies are not safe from the consequences of extreme weather events,” Taalas said.

“In 2021, a series of extreme weather and climate events occurred in various parts of Europe,” Taalas recalled.

“The exceptionally severe floods that caused an unprecedented number of deaths and damage in parts of western and central Europe in July, and the destructive fires that devastated southeastern Europe this summer, will remain in the memory of the affected nations and in the record international climate,” he said.

Not all news is bad

These high-impact weather and climate events left hundreds dead in Europe, affected more than half a million people and caused economic damage of more than 50 billion dollars, according to the WMO. In around 84% of the cases it was a question of floods or storms.

This report comes out a few days before COP27, the UN climate conference to be held from November 6 to 18 in Egypt.

The climate agreement reached in Paris in 2015 sets the objective of containing the increase in the average temperature of the planet below 2°C – and if possible below 1.5°C – in relation to the pre-industrial era.

Yet the planet is headed for 2.6°C warming by the end of the century, the UN warned in October.

Whatever the pace of global warming, In all parts of Europe, temperatures will rise more than the global average, as has been observed so far, the WMO warned, which could cause heat waves, forest fires and floods.

However, not all the news is bad, the organization noted. Several European countries are well on the way to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse gases.

These emissions have already been reduced by 31% between 1990 and 2020 in the European Union. And by 2030, the ambition is to achieve a net reduction of 55 percent.

“Europe can play a decisive role in the emergence of a carbon-neutral society by mid-century, to fulfill the Paris agreement,” said Taalas.

Europe is also one of the most advanced regions in terms of cross-border cooperation for adaptation to climate change, and around 75% of its population is protected from natural and meteorological disasters thanks to effective early warning systems.

“Furthermore, their action plans against heat waves have saved many lives,” the WMO said.