Europe Keeps Breaking Heat Records as Fastest-Warming Continent
A new scientific report on the impacts of climate change in Europe finds it’s continuing to get hotter on land and at sea.
Paramedics help a patient into an ambulance during a heat wave in Barcelona, in July 2022.
Photographer: Angel Garcia/BloombergEurope had the warmest summer on record last year, contributing to thousands of deaths, marine heat waves and extreme weather, an analysis has found.
The continent warmed to 2.3C above the pre-industrial average in 2022, a joint report by the World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said. Sea surface temperatures reached record highs and there was also “unprecedented” glacier melting, the agencies said. Overall climate and weather hazards led to 16,365 deaths, mostly relating to heat waves, and caused $2 billion in damage, largely connected with floods and storms.