From droughts and heatwaves to fatal floods, climate extremes are increasingly becoming a worrying norm, with recent years being the warmest on record across the globe.
The latest annual report by the European climate service Copernicus on Tuesday confirmed that the past eight years were globally the warmest years ever; last year, which was marked by extreme events, was the fifth warmest year globally.
"2022 was yet another year of climate extremes across Europe and globally. 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.
Last year, the annual average temperature was 0.3°C above the reference period of 1991-2020, which equates to approximately 1.2°C higher than the period 1850-1900, typically used as a proxy for the pre-industrial era. It also marks the eighth year in a row that temperatures of more than 1°C above the pre-industrial level were recorded.
"This report provides clear evidence that avoiding the worst consequences will require society to both urgently reduce carbon emissions and swiftly adapt to the changing climate," Burgess noted.
Europe heating fastest
Meanwhile, last year was the second-warmest year for Europe, which experienced its hottest summer by a clear margin. Starting in June, several prolonged and intense heatwaves affected northern parts of the continent, as well as in the West, where temperatures were furthest above average. Last autumn was also the third warmest on record.
"European temperatures have increased by more than twice the global average over the past 30 years, meaning it has the highest rate of increase of any continent in the world," the report read.
In several countries, including Switzerland, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the year 2022 as a whole counted as the warmest since records began, while France, Spain, Germany, and Slovenia experienced their highest summer wildfire emissions for at least the last 20 years.
A changing planet
The effects of climate change were not only visible in Europe, but also in large parts of the Middle East, Central Asia and China, New Zealand, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, new annual heat records were set.
In June, Nigeria experienced the deadliest flooding its country had seen in decades, while Pakistan experienced widespread and deadly flooding as a result of extreme rainfal in August.
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Finally, atmospheric greenhouse gases also continued to increase in 2022, with concentrations of carbon dioxide reaching the highest levels in over 2 million years.
“Greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, are the main drivers of climate change and we can see from our monitoring activities that atmospheric concentrations are continuing to rise with no signs of slowing down,” said Vincent-Henri Peuch, Director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.
