Europe fastest-warming continent, report finds

Europe had its warmest year on record in 2024 and is the fastest-warming continent, becoming hotter at twice the global average rate, a United Nations report has said.

The second annual European State of the Climate report, which includes inputs from around 100 scientists and experts, said extreme weather, record temperatures and heavy rainfall that ravaged Europe were a direct result of man-made climate change.

The report, which the UN World Meteorological Organization, or WMO, and the Copernicus Climate Change Service, or C3S, released on Tuesday, said 2024 was a year of extremes. It found 45 percent of Europe's days were much warmer than average, and 12 percent were the warmest on record.

"This report highlights that Europe is the fastest-warming continent and is experiencing serious impacts from extreme weather and climate change," WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained. "Every additional fraction of a degree of temperature rise matters because it accentuates the risks to our lives, to economies, and to the planet."

The study said storms were more severe in Europe in 2024, and flooding was more prevalent than at any time since 2013, with swollen rivers claiming at least 335 lives and negatively impacting 413,000 people.

The experts said Europe will be more seriously impacted by climate change in the future than other continents, with a global temperature rise of 1.5 C likely to kill an additional 30,000 Europeans.

Florence Rabier, director-general of the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts, which implements the C3S, said: "The 2024 report reveals that almost one third of the river network exceeded the high flood threshold, and heat stress continues to increase in Europe, highlighting the importance of building greater resilience."

She said 51 percent of European cities now have dedicated climate adaptation plans that use climate change information to mitigate the problems.

Saulo said "adaptation is a must" for European nations and that WMO and its partners will intensify their 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," she added.

The report said unprecedented high annual temperatures were recorded across half of the continent, and that sea surface temperatures hit record highs throughout Europe, some 0.7 C above average.

The extra hot temperatures caused wildfires throughout Europe — with one in Portugal in September torching 110,000 hectares in a week. The temperature rise across the continent also led to a loss of ice in Scandinavia, where glaciers shrank at alarming rates.