Europe is fastest-warming continent, says Copernicus climate report

Europe is the fastest-warming continent, with 2024 the continent's hottest year on record, according to a new report by EU climate monitor Copernicus.

The paper also said the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) for the region was the highest on record, while almost a third of the European river network exceeded the "high" flood threshold.

There was also "a striking east-west contrast in climate conditions, with extremely dry and often record-warm conditions in the east, and warm but wet conditions in the west."

The European State of the Climate 2024 (ESOTC 2024) report was compiled by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

According to WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo: "This report highlights that Europe is the fastest-warming continent and is experiencing serious impacts from extreme weather and climate change. 

"Every additional fraction of a degree of temperature rise matters because it accentuates the risks to our lives, to economies and to the planet."

Among the other findings:

• There were record temperatures in central, eastern and southeastern regions. 

• The numbers of days with 'strong', 'very strong' and 'extreme heat stress' were all the second highest on record. 

• The area of European land that experienced fewer than three months (90 days) of frost days was the largest on record, at 69 percent.

• All European regions saw a loss of ice, with glaciers in Scandinavia and Svalbard seeing their highest rates of mass loss on record.

• Storms claimed at least 335 lives and affected an estimated 413,000 people. 

• An estimated 42,000 people were affected by wildfires in Europe.

• In a rare piece of good news, the proportion of electricity generation by renewables in Europe reached a record high in 2024, at 45 percent.

Saulo explained: "Adaptation is a must. WMO and its partners are therefore intensifying efforts to strengthen early warning systems and climate services to help decision-makers and society at large to be more resilient. 

"We are making progress but need to go further and need to go faster, and we need to go together."

In depth

Topics studied in depth included extreme events in central and eastern Europe associated with Storm Boris, and those in Valencia, Spain, as well as the extreme heat and drought in southeastern Europe during the summer.

An unprecedented 30 percent of the European river network exceeded the 'high' flood threshold during the year, while percent exceeded the 'severe' flood threshold. Storm Boris affected hundreds of thousands of people in September, in Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania and Italy.

Meanwhile, southeastern Europe experienced its longest heatwave on record in July 2024, lasting 13 consecutive days and affecting 55 percent of the region. 

The report involved around 100 scientific contributors, with C3S's work implemented on behalf of the European Commission. 

Since 2018, the service has released the ESOTC, a detailed analysis of Europe's climate for the previous year.

Florence Rabier, Director-General at ECMWF, insisted there were some positive signs amid the paper's doom and gloom. According to Dabier: "With 51 percent of European cities now having a dedicated climate adaptation plan, this underscores the value of our information, which is rooted in scientific excellence, to better support decision-making around climate adaptation."