CLIMATE CHANGE IS HERE

We knew that 2022 was, for Europe, a year in which record levels of drought and heat were recorded. We have also known for some time that it is the continent that is warming the fastest, twice as fast as the world average. With these notes, it is not surprising that 2023, as recently indicated by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), was, as a whole, the warmest year (or the second warmest, depending on the data set analyzed) since records began, with temperatures that exceeded the average for 11 months.

One month in particular, September, was the warmest September since records began. Likewise, 2023 saw a record number of days with “extreme heat stress.” In addition, days in an even higher category, with “severe heat stress,” are trending higher across Europe.

This has caused heat-related mortality to increase by around 30% over the past 20 years, a figure that is expected to increase in 94% of the European regions studied in the coming years. A study published in Nature Communication indicated in August last year that mortality from extreme heat would double in a 2°C warmer world.

“The direct and indirect effects of heat on human health are devastating in almost the entire region, especially in Spain and in European urban centers, although the perception of risk remains low,” says Anna Cabré, a climate scientist associated with the University of Pennsylvania (United States), for Science Media Center Spain.