Temperatures in Europe have risen more than twice as fast as the global average over the past 30 years.
This was reported by the World Climate Organization (WMO) in Geneva a week before the UN climate summit in Egypt. Together with the European Copernicus Earth Observation System in Reading, the climate status report for Europe was presented on Wednesday. The focus is on the period to 2021, not 2022.
Between 1991 and 2021, temperatures in Europe rose by an average of 0.5 degrees per decade. They are rising particularly rapidly in the Arctic and in the higher northern latitudes of the world. In addition, the air over the continents warms on average faster than the air over the oceans.
Greenland Ice Sheet: Rain instead of snow for the first time
According to the report, alpine glaciers lost about 30 meters of their ice thickness between 1997 and 2021. The Greenland ice sheet is melting, accelerating sea level rise. In the summer of 2021, rain instead of snow was recorded at the highest point, at a good 3,200 meters, for the first time since measurements began in the 1980s.
“As the warming trend continues, exceptional heat, wildfires, floods and other impacts of climate change will negatively affect societies, economies and ecosystems,” the WMO said.
However, the WMO praises the European Union as a model region when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In the EU, emissions fell by 31% between 1990 and 2020. “In Europe, we are seeing the world warming live and this shows us that even well-prepared societies are not immune to the effects of extreme weather events,” said the WMO president. , Petteri Taalas.