Published January 10, 2023, 1:00 pmUpdated January 11, 2023 at 9:25 am
One again. “2022 was another year of extreme weather across Europe and the world,” said Deputy Director of the European Union’s climate service, Samantha Burgess. “These events demonstrate that we are already experiencing the devastating consequences of our global warming,” the scientist insisted, as the Copernicus Climate Change Service released an alarming new annual report on Tuesday.
Europe experienced its second warmest year on record last year, according to EU experts, with records in several countries, such as France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. Only 2020 surpassed it (by 0.3°C). But they recall that the years 2019, 2015 and 2014 were already ranked among the hottest.
Impacts on agriculture, transport, energy
Their description is clear: the region suffered unprecedented temperatures last summer “and by a clear margin compared to the summer of 2021″, the autumn was the third warmest since records began, and heat waves ” intense and sustained” engulfed both west and north. Continued lack of rain and dry soils have mixed with abnormally high temperatures, causing widespread drought. “Many countries have reported impacts on agriculture, river transport and energy management,” the report points out.
The consequences don’t end there. Hot, dry weather has increased the risk of wildfires. As a result, greenhouse gas emissions from bushfires in the EU and the UK last summer reached a fifteen-year peak. In France, Spain, Germany and Slovenia, it is necessary to go back to 2002 to find such significant emissions, “which contributed locally to the deterioration of air quality”, note the scientists.
Winter heat wave
Europe isn’t the only region to experience record temperatures last year. Also on the list are the Middle East, Central Asia and China, South Korea, New Zealand, the North West and the Horn of Africa, making 2022 the fifth warmest year, according to Copernicus. And of the last eight, the hottest eight. For Samantha Burgess, these new data “provide clear evidence that avoiding the worst impacts will require society both to urgently reduce carbon emissions and to adapt as quickly as possible to climate change.”
In line with last summer, since the beginning of this winter the mercury has remained abnormally high, so much so as to speak of a “winter heat wave”. It was 23°C in Biarritz on December 31st and 16°C in Berlin. Heat records across the continent that have unexpected immediate consequences in the midst of the energy crisis: they are reducing the demand for natural gas in northwestern Europe.
The impact is “significant”, assures Joel Hancock, energy analyst at Natixis: consumption has averaged 900 million cubic meters per day in the last three weeks, while the five-year average in this period rises to 1,200 million cubic meters . A respite for the level of storage, which has even been raised.
“Bold spells this winter will clearly help Europe weather a war-related energy crisis,” said Bob Henson, a meteorologist recently quoted by Bloomberg. “But the same climate has also increased the likelihood of terrible forest fires in Europe like last summer. We cannot choose between the many negatives and occasional benefits of climate change. »
