Europe is increasingly facing bouts of heat so intense that the human body cannot cope, as climate change continues to raise temperatures, the EU's Copernicus climate monitoring service and the World Meteorological Organization said.

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Extreme weather events are occurring more frequently amid rising sea-levels and increasing temperatures.

Climate Crisis

Europe is facing an increasing challenge with intense heat waves that exceed human tolerance levels, a phenomenon exacerbated by the ongoing effects of climate change. This was the conclusion of a recent report by the EU's Copernicus Climate Monitoring Service and the World Meteorological Organization, which focused on the region's climate and highlighted the extreme conditions experienced last year.

The report particularly underscored a heatwave in July that impacted 41% of southern Europe, marking the largest area of the continent ever recorded to experience such extreme heat stress in a single day. According to Carlo Buentempo, the director of the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, the past year has been globally exceptional in terms of climate anomalies when compared to past decades, centuries, and even millennia. He noted that some climate events in 2023 surprised the scientific community with their intensity, rapid onset, extent, and duration.

The findings of the report also revealed that extreme heat significantly increases health risks, notably for outdoor workers, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. In the last two decades, there has been an approximate 30% increase in heat-related deaths in Europe. The primary contributor to the unprecedented heat experienced last year was identified as greenhouse gas emissions, with the El Niño weather pattern also playing a significant role.

In response to these challenges, the EU's Environment Agency recently called on governments to enhance the preparedness of healthcare systems for climate change impacts. It also advocated for the implementation of EU regulations aimed at protecting outdoor workers from the dangers of extreme heat.



Health-harming heat stress rising in Europe

Europe is increasingly grappling with scorching heat waves that are beyond what's comfortable for the human body as climate change continues to raise temperatures. That's according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Monitoring Service and the World Meteorological Organization which in a report on the region's climate highlighted last year's extreme conditions. Notably, a heat wave last July which affected 41% of southern Europe the largest area of Europe ever recorded to experience extreme heat stress in a single day. Carlo Buentempo is the director of the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. The year, as you know, has globally been extremely unusual especially when compared with the climate of the last few decades, centuries or even millennia. So some of the events of 2023 took the scientific community by surprise because of their intensity, their speed of onset, extent and duration. The report highlights that as extreme heat puts at risk outdoor workers, the elderly and people with existing conditions like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes heat-related deaths in Europe have gone up about 30% in the last two decades. Findings also show greenhouse gas emissions were the biggest cause of last year's exceptional heat with the El Niño weather pattern also playing a part. The EU's Environment Agency last month urged governments to prepare healthcare systems for climate change and pushed for EU regulations to protect outdoor workers from extreme heat.

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