2022 Was 5th Warmest on Record With ‘ Devastating ’ Global Climate Impacts

From drought in Europe to floods in Pakistan and melting polar ice, a rapidly-changing climate made 2022 a year of new extremes fueled by a relentless increase in the concentration of heat-trapping gases, according to the EU agency that tracks changes to Earth’s atmosphere. The year ended as the world’s fifth-warmest on record, with Europe heating up faster than anywhere else, it said in new research published Tuesday. The continent experienced its second-warmest year on record and its hottest summer ever, fueling wildfires, ruining crops, hampering trade and leading to higher than normal deaths even in some of the world’s wealthiest nations. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “These events highlight that we are already experiencing the devastating consequences of our warming world,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service. “Avoiding the worst consequences will require society to both urgently reduce carbon emissions and swiftly adapt to the changing climate.” Extreme heat over the summer led to at least 20,000 excess deaths in France, Germany, Spain and the UK alone. Drought upended agricultural production, while low water levels in European rivers disrupted the transport of goods in the Rhine River, western Europe’s most important waterway, and nuclear power production in France. These climate-fueled events worsened an energy and inflation crisis that has made it harder for fam...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized bloomberg wire climate change extreme weather healthscienceclimate Source Type: news