Human-caused climate change has had “by far the biggest” impact on the catastrophic heatwaves that have hit North America, Europe and China in July.
This is the opinion of scientists at the international weather organization “World Weather Attribution” in a study published last week.
“The temperature in Europe and North America could never have become so high if it were not for the effects of climate change,” says Izidine Pinto of the Dutch Meteorological Agency.
The international weather organization “World Weather Attribution” is based on academic cooperation, which is guided by the study of the effects of climate change on weather extremes.
Last weekend, thousands of tourists were evacuated from the Greek tourist island of Rhodes due to wildfires.
Since the beginning of the month, extreme weather has wreaked havoc, such as forest fires, water shortages and heat waves, across the world. Temperatures have reached their highest levels in China, the United States and southern Europe.
If the research is anything to go by, the increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has meant that the temperature during the heat wave in Europe has become 2.5 degrees higher than otherwise.
The temperature during the heat wave in the United States has become two degrees higher, while the temperature in China has risen by one extra degree.
In addition to having a very serious effect on people, the heat waves have destroyed crops and killed animals in the countryside.
In this regard, the corn and soybean crops in the United States, Mexican cattle, southern European olives and Chinese cotton should be mentioned in particular.
Scientists conclude in the study that heat waves like this will become more and more common in the future if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced.
Prolonged periods of extreme heat are likely to recur every two to five years if global temperatures rise by more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels.
More and more extremes
“The events we have witnessed are not uncommon in today’s climate,” says Friederike Otto, a scientist at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change in London.
“As long as we continue to burn fossil fuels, we are going to witness these extreme weather events again and again.”
