The heatwave recorded in Europe last year was one of the main causes of additional weather-related deaths on our continent. Carlo Buntempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which co-produced the report with the UN, says. “Unfortunately, this cannot be considered a one-time event or a climatic anomaly,” Buontempo said. Climate changes are part of a pattern that will make heat stress more common and intense in Europe.
In addition to Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom also had their hottest year last year.
Rapid warming not only of land but also of European waters is causing the extinction or migration of many species. British scientists recently announced that ocean temperatures in April and May this year broke world records. According to the WMO Copernicus report, European water bodies are in worse condition than the global average. In the eastern Mediterranean, the Baltic and Black Seas, and the southern Arctic, sea surface warming was three times greater than in the rest of the world.
However, the report also offers a sign of hope, as renewable energy in Europe generated more electricity than polluting fossil fuels for the first time last year. Wind and solar energy accounted for 22.3 percent of the electricity produced in the European Union, while only 20 percent was produced from fossil fuels.
see The highest temperatures are measured in the North Atlantic
