Dry riverbeds, compacted soils, burning forests... This summer, Europe has been hit by heat waves and droughts, with temperatures in many places reaching record highs and rains significantly less than in previous years.
Heat waves and droughts have not only affected people's daily lives and ecological environment, but also brought great challenges to Europe's economy and people's livelihood. The urgency of tackling climate change is recognized, but the EU's efforts to reduce emissions now face energy security challenges.
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Heat waves are coming
Since the end of June, successive heat waves have rattled Europeans, with temperatures in many parts of Southern, Western and Eastern Europe at record highs.
Hot and dry summers are characteristic of the Mediterranean climate in southern Europe, but Western Europe, which has a temperate oceanic climate, has not had the usual cool humidity this summer. The data shows that Portugal, Spain, France and parts of the United Kingdom all experienced temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in July, with the United Kingdom breaking through 40 degrees Celsius for the first time. Western European homes generally do not have air conditioning, and people can only endure the extreme heat.
The weather was hot, plus the rainfall was significantly lower than in previous years, and drought occurred in some parts of Europe. Parts of the Loire in France dried up almost completely, and some canals were forced to close. The Rhine is one of Europe's golden waterways, and data from August 16 show that it flows through the Cologne section of Germany to a depth of less than two metres. The water level of Italy's longest river, The Wave, is at an all-time low, and some river cruises have been suspended this summer. Recent data released by the European Drought Watch website shows that about 63% of the EU and the UK have issued drought warnings or warnings.
This is a wildfire photographed in Athens, Greece, on July 19. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Panajotis)
Heat and drought have led to frequent wildfires. In southwestern France, wildfires have been raging in recent days, and the spread of fires has forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate; As of August 15, a fire about 60 kilometers northeast of Alicante, Spain, had destroyed about 6,500 hectares of forest and about 1,200 people had been evacuated.
According to the European Forest Fire Information System, more than 740,000 hectares of forest have been burned in the EU between January and mid-August, the highest in the same period since the relevant record began in 2006.
Meteorologists at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre recently warned that the 2018 drought in Europe was the worst in the past 500 years. This summer is not over yet, and it is expected that this year's drought will likely exceed 2018 levels.
Drought affects people's livelihoods and the economy
Heat and drought have had a multifaceted impact on Europe, with agriculture being the most immediate. In Italy's Po region, where severe drought has dried up rice paddies, local farmers estimate that this year's rice harvest could be "cut off."
This is a crop damaged by drought photographed in Mantua, Lombardy, Italy, on July 12. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Alberto Lingria)
The German Farmers' Association recently warned against crop failures and price increases in the face of a prolonged drought. If the rain does not continue as quickly as possible, the harvest may be reduced by 30 or 40%.
Drought has also severely affected inland waterway shipping in Europe. Many barges need to transport coal for power plants and raw materials for industrial enterprises such as steel and chemicals. But due to the drop in water levels, barges on the Rhine can only operate at 25% capacity. Lilith, a German environmental technician, told Xinhua that the water level has now dropped to a critical point where it has almost lost navigation, and "the high temperature has steamed up the water."
This is the Rhine river photographed in Düsseldorf, Germany, on July 26. Affected by high temperatures and drought, the water level of the Rhine River in Germany has declined. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Ulrich Khufnagar)
Ensuring energy security is currently a top priority in the EU, but drought has affected hydropower and nuclear power generation. Statistics from The Norwegian consultancy Lustad Energy show that in the first seven months of this year, Hydroelectric power generation in Europe was 20% lower than that of the same period last year, and nuclear power generation was reduced by 12%.
Sound the alarm about climate change
In the face of the heat wave and drought that has swept across Europe this summer, authoritative institutions, experts and scholars and public opinion believe that this is once again a wake-up call for the intensification of climate change.
Corinne Le Querrel, a professor of climate change at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, told Xinhua that the abnormal high temperatures reflect the general trend. This is not simply a few hot days, but actually the whole weather and climate changes. Climate change is causing more and more extreme temperatures. It is imperative that society as a whole take action on climate change.
The World Meteorological Organization predicts that future heat waves will become common due to climate change caused by human activities, with temperatures in Europe rising faster than in other regions.
Global warming is exacerbating droughts in Europe, and droughts will last longer and have a greater impact. A 2018 study by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Studies in Germany found that if the Earth's temperature rises by 3 degrees Celsius, the share of arid areas in Europe will expand from 13% to 26%.
In a recent commentary, the Swiss newspaper Neue Zurich said that this summer, many Europeans understood for the first time how dire the situation of climate change is. The article calls on countries to take stronger responses.
This is a thermal power plant in The German capital Berlin on October 8, 2021, where a chimney is being dismantled. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Shan Yuqi
But in the current climate, the EU's ambitions to tackle climate change face difficulties. Due to a variety of factors, the EU energy supply can not be guaranteed, and some European countries have restarted coal power projects for this purpose. Although Germany and other countries have recently reiterated that they will keep the greenhouse gas emission reduction target unchanged, how to find a balance between solving the current energy supply and alleviating the future hot drought has become a difficult problem for the EU. (Reporters: Ren Ke, Liu Fang, Chen Hao, Zhou Yue, Zhou Xiaotian, Peng Zhuo, He Fei, Tian Fan, Wang Pingping, Shan Weiyi, Hu Xiaobing, Li Xiaopeng, Wang Xiangjiang, Kang Yi, Meng Dingbo, Zhao Xiaona, Guo Shuang, Huang Zemin, Han Yan, Jiang Xuelan, Liu Qu; Reporters: Roberto Ferranti, Dinandra Haria, Rey Don, Jon Heuper; Editing: Indifferent; Editors: Feng Yujing, Zhang Zhongxia, Huang Kun, Wang Fengfeng, Qian Yongwen)
Produced by the International Department of Xinhua News Agency
Produced by Xinhua News Agency's International Communication Integration Platform