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A database of hundreds of studies compiled by Carbon Brief has provided overwhelming proof that previously ‘impossible’ heatwaves would have had virtually zero chance of happening without the additional heat trapped by fossil fuel emissions.
Confirming what most of us already suspected, a new analysis has provided overwhelming proof that human activity is to blame for the ever-increasing intensification of deadly weather across the planet.
‘This study should be an eye-opener for political leaders hanging on to fossil fuels that heat the planet and destroy lives,’ said Dr Friederike Otto, co-founder and lead of the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group at Imperial College London.
‘If we keep burning oil, gas and coal, the suffering will continue.’
Compiled by the website Carbon Brief, a database of some 744 studies has corroborated that at least 24 previously ‘impossible’ heatwaves would have had virtually zero chance of happening if it weren’t for the continued burning of fossil fuels and the greenhouse gas emissions this has released into the atmosphere.
These heatwaves have struck communities worldwide, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives in North America, Europe, and Asia.
They’re what’s supercharged the numerous ‘unnatural’ (as they’re now referred to) disasters we’ve seen in recent years, including storms, droughts, and wildfires.
According to the findings, 550 of these events were made significantly more severe or more frequent by global warming.
The most recent example of this is of course the unprecedented heavy rainfall and floods that devastated Spain earlier this month, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez telling world leaders at COP29 that ‘climate change kills’ after 220 lives were lost.
To reach these conclusions, Carbon Brief examined the impacts that 1.3C of global warming has had to date. On this note, it goes without saying that 2.5C to 3C – which is where we’re headed – would be unimaginable.
Scientists have consequently urged the nations meeting at COP this week to urgently deliver on the phasing out of coal, oil, and gas, and to fund the protection that’s desperately needed by vulnerable populations.
‘Some say climate scientists shouldn’t paint a picture of doom and gloom. But we are humans, we have feelings, we have children,’ Dr Joyce Kimutai, part of the WWA and an adviser with Kenya’s COP29 delegation, told the Guardian.
‘The increasing role of climate change in the intensities of extreme weather events is definitely worrying. And if this continues it’s really going to be difficult for everyone. The climate crisis is not discriminating how it affects people. It’s hitting every part of the world.’
