One after another, reports describing the seriousness of climate change are piling up. The hottest summer in history, exceptional fires and devastating floods: Europe experienced an avalanche of extreme events in 2021, underlines an annual report from the European service on climate change Copernicus (C3S).
The planet has already gained between 1.1 and 1.2°C since the pre-industrial era, but Europe is warming even faster, with an average temperature rise of 2°C. Hence a multiplication of violent events: even if the whole year does not fit into the top 10 of the hottest on the continent, “2021 has been a year of extremes, including the hottest summer in Europe, heat waves in the Mediterranean, floods and a lack of wind”commented in a press release Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus.
The report confirms that the summer of 2021 was the hottest on record in Europe, 1°C above the average for the past 30 years. It was notably marked by particularly intense heat waves over several weeks, with a new European record (not yet approved) in Sicily (48.8°C) and a new national record in Spain (47°C).
Added to the heat is a persistent drought, creating conditions conducive to fires in Italy, Greece and Turkey. Some 800,000 hectares went up in smoke in July and August, making this fire season one of the most intense in Europe for thirty years.
Conversely, after record rainfall on July 14, 2021, Germany and Belgium were devastated by floods which left more than 200 dead and billions of euros in damage. An episode whose probability has been increased by 20% to 900% due to global warming, according to researchers from the World Weather Attribution. And a late spring frost spell damaged many vines and fruit trees from France to northern Greece.
According to scientists, other extreme events will follow the same trajectory. “We expect them to increase in the future”, warns Freja Vamborg, lead author of the report. In its latest report published in early April, the IPCC notably stressed that the economy had to be completely reformed and emissions capped within less than three years to hope to maintain a world “livable”. For Carlo Buontempothese events show that “Understanding weather and climate extremes is increasingly important for key sectors of society.”