GENEVA: Europe is currently the quickest warming mainland on earth, with the temperature having climbed by about two times the worldwide normal since the 1980s, as per a joint report by the World Meteorological Association and the European Association.
Scientists confirmed that the hottest summer ever recorded in Europe resulted in the deaths of thousands of people and warned that such events could become more common.
The report on the state of the climate, which was released on Monday, stated that heat waves caused approximately 16,000 additional deaths in Europe last year.
Dr. Carlo Buontempo, Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, stated, "Unfortunately, this cannot be considered a one-time occurrence or a peculiarity of the climate."
He stated, "These kinds of events are part of a pattern that will make heat stress extremes more frequent and more intense across the region." This is according to "our current understanding of the climate system and its evolution."
Due to a combination of excessive warming caused by climate change and a tendency toward El Nino, scientists have predicted that worldwide temperatures will reach record highs.
According to scientists, changes in climate feedbacks and the fact that a significant portion of Europe is located in the sub-Arctic and Arctic, which are both experiencing the fastest rate of warming on Earth, are to blame for Europe's faster rate of warming than that of other continents.
The report also stated that glacier melt was at an all-time high and that parts of the Mediterranean, Baltic, and Black Seas experienced severe and extreme heat waves last year.
It stated that Europe's average temperature was between the second and fourth highest on record last year.
However, renewable energy accounted for more electricity in the EU for the first time last year than polluting fossil gas (20%), which it deemed a sign of hope.
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