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Europe faces growing climate change risks and is unprepared for them, the European Environment Agency said on Monday in the region’s first risk assessment.
The agency said Europe is experiencing more frequent and severe extreme weather events, including increased wildfires, droughts, unusual rainfall patterns and flooding, and that urgent action must be taken to protect energy, food security, water and health. said it was necessary.
These climate risks are “growing faster than societies can prepare for,” EEA Director-General Leena Ira Mononen said in a statement.
The report identified 36 major climate risks on the continent, including threats to ecosystems, economies, health and food systems, and found that more than half of them now require greater action. The report classified eight items as requiring urgent action, including protecting ecosystems, protecting people from heat, protecting people and infrastructure from floods and wildfires, and securing disaster relief funding.
The report says Europe is the world’s warmest continent, warming twice as fast as other regions since the 1980s. The heat is associated with heavier rain and flooding, and the report predicts reduced rainfall and more severe droughts in southern Europe.
Without urgent and decisive action, many of the climate risks it has identified could become catastrophic, the group warns. It recommends that the EU and its Member States work together with regional and local bodies to reduce climate risks and improve adaptation to warming.
Manon Dufour, director of climate change think tank E3G in Brussels, said the report was a “huge wake-up call” for the continent and could influence climate policy at both European and national levels.
At the European level, Dufour said the report could be an “eye-opener” for European leaders who are currently most focused on security issues, as the climate could affect economic and energy security. ‘There is a possibility.
Mr Dufour said that at the national level, finance ministers in particular should be inspired by the report to “make economic and social resilience a key priority”. He pointed to the report’s findings that economic losses from heatwaves and floods could reach 1 trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) a year by the end of this century.
“Adapting to changes in risks that can no longer be avoided, including preparing for greater extremes and unforeseen events, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid risks becoming even more unmanageable is the key to It’s clearly in our best interest,” said director Maarten van Aelst. General of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.
Sven Harmeling, head of climate at Climate Action Network Europe, said Europe could “do more by 2030” to reduce emissions from burning coal, oil and gas and to adapt to climate change. He also said that it is possible to strengthen investment in the country. In particular, by protecting ecosystems such as wetlands and forests, which absorb carbon and act as natural extreme weather barriers.
He insisted that any efforts to reduce the effects of global warming “must be delivered in a way that delivers social and economic benefits to everyone.”
Silvia Pastorelli, climate campaigner at Greenpeace EU, agreed, adding that the EU should focus resilience programs on the most vulnerable communities, such as home retrofits that help people heat their homes in winter and cool them in summer. “Equity is essential in addressing climate change,” Pastorelli said.
The report says the EU and its member states have made “considerable progress” in understanding and preparing for climate risks.
For example, Julie Bergmans, the EEA’s climate risk expert, said Europe “has done well when it comes to coastal flooding.” He said the continent had not experienced catastrophic storm surge flooding in the past 60 years, and some progress had been made in managing the health risks of heat and major river flooding.
But more action is needed in all of these areas, she said, because “the risks are rapidly increasing.” Case in point, Berkmans said, heat stress on residents has reached critical levels. One solution, she says, is for countries and cities to improve their spatial planning to better adapt to future health risks from heat.
The European Commission is expected to publish an action plan on Tuesday following the report.
European Commission spokesman Tim McPhee said the EEA’s report “gives a very clear warning and a very clear call to action for what’s to come.”
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Associated Press writer Raf Cassart in Brussels contributed to this report.
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Associated Press climate and environment reporting receives funding from several private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Learn about AP’s standards for working with philanthropy, a list of supporters, and funded areas at AP.org.
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