According to the report, Europe is the fastest warming continent, warming at almost twice the average global rate

NAPLES – Europe is the fastest warming continent and temperatures are rising at roughly twice the global average, two top climate monitoring organizations said on Monday, warning of impacts on human health, glacier melting and economic activity.

The UN World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s climate agency Copernicus said in a joint report that the continent has the opportunity to develop targeted strategies to accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydropower if response to the effects of climate change. climate change.

The continent generated 43% of its electricity from renewable sources last year, up from 36% the year before, the agencies said in their European State of the Climate report last year. For the second year in a row, more energy was generated in Europe from renewable energy sources than from fossil fuels.

The latest five-year averages show that temperatures in Europe are now 2.3 degrees Celsius (4.1 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, compared to 1.3 degrees Celsius higher globally, the report says – just below goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“Europe experienced another year of rising temperatures and intensifying climate extremes – including heat stress with record temperatures, forest fires, heat waves, loss of glacier ice and lack of snowfall,” said Elisabeth Hamdouch, Deputy Head of Unit for Copernicus at the EU Executive. Commission.

The report is a continental complement to WMO’s flagship global climate report, which has been published annually for 30 years and was this year issued a ‘red alert’ warning that the world is not doing enough to combat the effects of climate change. global warming.

Copernicus reported that March was the tenth month in a row with record monthly temperatures. The average sea surface temperature for the ocean across Europe reached its highest annual level in 2023, the Europe report said.

This year’s European report focuses on the impact of high temperatures on human health, noting that heat-related deaths have risen across the continent. It said more than 150 lives were lost directly last year due to storms, floods and bushfires.

The cost of weather- and climate-related economic losses in 2023 was estimated at more than 13.4 billion euros (approximately $14.3 billion).

“Hundreds of thousands of people were affected by extreme climate events in 2023, which have been responsible for major losses at the continental level, estimated at least in the tens of billions of euros,” said Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo. “Unfortunately, these numbers are unlikely and are likely to get smaller, at least in the near future.”

Extreme weather fueled heat waves, wildfires, droughts and floods, the report said. High temperatures have contributed to the loss of glacial ice on the continent, including in the Alps – which have lost about 10% of their remaining glacial ice in the past two years.

Still, the report’s authors pointed out some exceptions, such as how temperatures in Scandinavia and Iceland were below average, even though the mercury was above average across much of the continent as a whole.