Extreme weather conditions in Europe have killed almost
195,000 people and caused economic losses of more than 560 billion euros since
1980, the European Environment Agency said Wednesday.
“Nearly 195,000 fatalities have been caused by floods,
storms, heat- and coldwaves, forest fires and landslides” between 1980 and
2021, the EAA said in its report.
Of the 560 billion euros ($605 billion) in losses, only 170
billion, or 30 percent, were insured, the EEA said, as it launched a new online
portal collating recent data on the impact of extreme weather.
“To prevent further losses, we need to urgently move from
responding to extreme weather events…to proactively preparing for them,” EEA
expert Aleksandra Kazmierczak told AFP.
According to the latest data, heatwaves accounted for 81
percent of deaths and 15 percent of financial losses.
Europe needs to take measures to protect its ageing
population, with the elderly particularly sensitive to extreme heat, the EEA
said.
“Most national adaptation policies and health strategies
recognise the impacts of heat on cardiovascular and respiratory systems. But
less than half cover direct impacts of heat like dehydration or heat stroke,”
it said.
The summer of 2022 saw more deaths than usual in Europe
following repeated heatwaves, but the 2022 deaths were not included in the data
published on Wednesday.
There were 53,000 more deaths in July 2022 than the monthly
average in 2016-2019, up by 16 percent, though not all of those deaths were directly
attributed to the heat, the EEA said.
Spain registered more than 4,600 deaths linked to the
extreme heat in June, July and August.
Climate modelling has predicted longer, more intense and
more frequent heatwaves.
In February 2022, the EAA said extreme weather killed
142,000 people and caused 510 billion euros in losses for the period 1980-2020.
The increase in the figures released on Wednesday was partly
due to the fact that in 2021, flooding in Germany and Belgium led to economic
losses of almost 50 billion euros.
In terms of deaths, a change in methodology in France and
Germany was responsible for the large variation, the EEA said.
– ‘Devastating consequences’ –
Climate change caused by humans increased the risk of
drought five- or six-fold in 2022, a year when forest fires ravaged twice as
much territory as in recent years, the EEA said.
Droughts could end up being very costly.
Economic losses could rise from nine billion euros per year
currently to 25 billion euros at the end of the century if the planet warms by
1.5C degrees.
That could climb to 31 billion euros if it warms by 2C and
45 billion euros if it warms by 3C, according to scientific scenarios.
The consequences for agriculture could be “devastating”, the
EEA warned.
“Farmers can limit adverse impacts of rising temperature and
droughts by adapting crop varieties, changing sowing dates and with changed
irrigation patterns,” the report said.
Without changes, yields and farm incomes are projected to
decline in the future, it said.
While human losses from flooding are much lower, accounting
for just two percent of the total, they are the most costly, accounting for 56
percent of economic losses.
