The pace of warming in Europe is approximately double that of the rest of the world. Report

According to two leading climate monitoring organizations, Europe is warming up at a rate that is almost twice as fast as the rest of the world, and they warned of the potential ramifications for human health, glacier melt, and economic activity.

In response to the effects of climate change, the continent has the chance to develop targeted strategies to accelerate the transition to renewable resources like wind, solar, and hydroelectric power, according to a joint report from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus climate agency.

The agency report, European State of the Climate, states that last year, the continent produced 43% of its power from renewable resources, up from 36% the year before. For the second year in a row, renewable energy sources produced more energy in Europe than fossil fuels.

According to the report, temperatures in Europe are currently running 2.3 degrees Celsius (4.1 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, compared to 1.3 degrees Celsius higher globally. This is only slightly above the targets under the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. These figures are based on the most recent five-year averages.

Elisabeth Hamdouch, the deputy head of unit for Copernicus at the EU’s executive commission, said that “Europe saw yet another year of increasing temperatures and intensifying climate extremes — including heat stress with record temperatures, wildfires, heat waves, glacier ice loss, and lack of snowfall.”

The study, which has been released yearly for the last thirty years as a continental supplement to the WMO’s flagship state of the global climate report, included a “red alert” warning this year about the lack of action being taken by the international community to combat the effects of global warming.

According to Copernicus, March was the tenth consecutive month with record-breaking temperatures. According to the Europe study, the average sea-surface temperature of the ocean throughout Europe reached its highest yearly level in 2023.

This year’s European study highlights the negative effects of high temperatures on human health and notes that heat-related mortality have increased across the continent. It said that storms, floods, and wildfires directly claimed more than 150 lives last year.

In 2023, the predicted cost of economic losses resulting from weather and climate change was over 13.4 billion euros, or over $14.3 billion.

According to Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo, “extreme climate events in 2023 affected hundreds of thousands of people and have been responsible for large losses at continental level, estimated to be at least in the tens of billions of euros.” “Unfortunately, at least in the near future, these figures are unlikely and likely to get smaller.” According to the research, extreme weather exacerbated heat waves, wildfires, droughts, and floods. The Alps have lost almost 10% of their remaining glacier ice in the previous two years, and high temperatures have contributed to this loss of glacier ice throughout the continent.

The authors of the paper did, however, highlight a few anomalies, such as the fact that although temperatures were above normal throughout much of the continent, they were below average in Scandinavia and Iceland. AP