Europe, the fastest warming continent, breaks heat stress records in 2023

Europe is the continent that is warming at the fastest rate, with temperature rises that double the global average, and in 2023 it broke the record for days of extreme thermal stress, according to a UN and Copernicus report, which indicates that mortality heat-related increased by 30% in the last two decades.

“Millions of people were impacted by extreme weather events” on the European continent, from heat waves to floods, highlighted the annual study on the state of Europe’s climate, presented by the climate monitoring service of the European Union and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), dependent on the United Nations.

“Europe witnessed the largest fire ever recorded (the one suffered by Greece in August), experienced one of the wettest years, severe marine heat waves and widespread devastating floods“, summarized the director of Copernicus, Carlo Buontempo.

Heat stress, which measures the risk that the climate may affect human health, is considered “extreme” if in one day temperatures exceed 46 degrees, something that happened more than a dozen times in Europe last year in areas of southern and eastern Spain, southwest France, southern Italy, Greece and western Turkey.

The days of very strong thermal stress (between 38 and 46 degrees) were also unusually high, and Copernicus He highlighted that these were especially numerous (more than 80) in the south of Spanish territory.

Mortality due to heat increases

The report recalls that heat-related mortality in Europe has increased by around 30% in the last 20 years. There is no exact data for 2023, although the summer heat waves of the previous year caused more than 60,000 deaths according to some studies.

Yes, 63 deaths were recorded due to storms, 44 due to floods and the same number due to forest fires.

The year 2023 was one of the warmest on record for Europe (the first or second, according to different databases), although what is certain is that the three years of highest temperatures in the Old Continent were They have all given in the current decade.

“Eleven of the twelve months of the year had above-average temperatures, including the warmest September on record”the report highlighted.

This also warned of the extreme marine heat wave that the Atlantic suffered in June around the British Isles, with temperatures up to five degrees higher than average.

High rainfall year

On the other hand, last year rainfall in Europe was 7% above average, with 16% of continental river basins exceeding the alarm threshold and records of maximum flow in large streams such as the Loire, the Rhine or the Danube, due to the storms recorded between October and December.

The floods in the Old Continent last year affected, according to the report, 1.6 million people and caused more than four-fifths of the climate-related losses in Europe, which amounted to some 13.4 billion euros.

“The data presented in the report is alarming, but investigating it is vital to achieve the transition towards alternative energies, reduce greenhouse gases and become the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050″, highlighted the head of the Earth Observation Unit of the European Commission, Mauro Facchini.

In this field, the report presented figures that invite optimism, since there was a record percentage (43%) of electricity generated by renewable sources in 2023, compared to 36% the previous year, something facilitated by the greater potential for hydroelectric and hydraulic generation that produced the greatest storms and rainfall.

For the second consecutive year, in addition, the energy generated with these renewable sources exceeded that produced by fossil fuels in the Old Continent.