Europe is the fastest-growing continent, with temperatures rising more than twice the global average over the past 30 years, the UN warned on Wednesday.
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Temperatures in the Old Continent experienced a considerable increase in the period 1991-2021, with a rise of around 0.5 °C per decade, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the European climate change service Copernicus said in a report.
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“This is the fastest warming among the six regions defined by the WMO,” said the secretary general of this organization, the Finn Petteri Taalas, in the prologue of the report on the climate in the Old Continent.
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.
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As a result of rapid warming in Europe, Alpine glaciers 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.
In 2021, a series of extreme weather and climate events occurred in various parts of Europe.
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.
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“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 change,” he said.
Not all news is bad
These meteorological and climatic phenomena of strong impact left hundreds dead in the Old Continent, affected more than half a million people and caused economic damage of more than 50,000 million dollars, according to the WMO.
in around the 84% of cases involved floods or storms.
This report comes out a few days before the COP27, the UN climate conference thate will be held from November 6 to 18 in Egypt.
The climate agreement reached in Paris in 2015 sets the goal 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.
However, the planet is headed for 2.6°C warming by the end of the century, the UN warned in October.
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Regardless of the rate of global warming, temperatures in all parts of Europe 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. 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%.
“Europe can play a decisive role in the emergence of a carbon-neutral society by mid-century, to fulfill the Paris agreement,” said Taalas.
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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.
AFP
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