Latest news with #WMO
Axios
2 days ago
- Climate
- Axios
Wildfires in Turkey, Greece force thousands to evacuate in searing heat
Deadly wildfires engulfing parts of Turkey and Greece have forced thousands to evacuate, as much of the Mediterranean and Europe face what meteorologists are describing as an "exceptional," enduring heat wave. The big picture: Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and Spain have also seen fires driven by extremely dry conditions and powerful winds. Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal are among the countries impacted by the extreme heat, and a record high temperature of 50.5°C (122.9°F) was recorded in the southeastern Turkish city of Silopi on Friday. Zoom in: Firefighters in Turkey have been battling since June dozens of fires that have killed at least 15 people, with a Turkish official reporting Sunday that 3,515 people were evacuated from villages threatened by fires in the northwestern province of Bursa. Hundreds more were evacuated from the northern province of Karabuk, while the western provinces of Bilecik and İzmir were on Friday declared disaster zones due to the fires. Firefighters in Greece were facing powerful winds as they tackled multiple fires, as temperatures in the center of the country exceeded well over 100°F over the weekend. "We have injured firefighters, human lives were put at risk, properties have been burned, and forest areas have been destroyed," climate crisis and civil protection minister Giannis Kefalogiannis said earlier, per the BBC. Zoom out: The EU has deployed firefighting aircraft to Greece, Italy, Croatia and Hungary and sent firefighting equipment to Syria from Germany, and France this wildfire season. Between the lines: More than two-thirds of most severe heat waves in Europe from 1950 onwards have occurred since 2000, according to data from the UN's World Meteorological Organization. "As a result of human-induced climate change, extreme heat is becoming more frequent and intense," per the WMO. The extreme heat is "leading to spikes in air pollution and a big risk of wildfires," the WMO notes. "This is coupled with a severe drought in some European countries." In addition to the the wildfires, a report from the EU's Copernicus notes Turkey and the Balkans are experiencing intensifying extreme dry conditions that are impacting crops and vegetation.
Time Magazine
3 days ago
- Climate
- Time Magazine
Firefighters In ‘Titanic Battle' As Wildfires Rage In Greece
Residents in suburbs of the Greek capital Athens were ordered to evacuate their homes as wildfires ravaged several parts of southern Europe over the weekend, including not only Greece but also Turkey, Bulgaria and Montenegro. According to government authorities in Greece, the country has quelled some of the fires—especially those nearing Athens—but firefighters were battling five major blazes on Sunday amid a severe heatwave. The extreme temperatures, which reached 44 degrees C (111F) on Sunday, are forecast to continue. 'The state mechanism was called to engage in a titanic battle, simultaneously responding to dozens of wildfires across the country. Today, the situation appears improved, but the fight continues with all available resources,' noted Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a statement released Sunday morning, according to the Guardian. 'To those who saw their properties destroyed by the fury of the fire, know that the state will stand by your side.' Over 200 firefighters have been battling the blaze near Athens, supported by aircraft, where six firefighters have been hospitalized. There were also major fires on the islands of Kythira, Evia, and the holiday resort island, Crete. Greece has also officially requested the help of their European Union (EU) allies and though there are reports that the fires north of Athens have been quelled by Sunday, other fires in the Peloponnese area near Messinia are not yet contained. 'The situation in most areas of operations has improved at this time, after the firefighters' all-night battle,' stated fire department spokesperson Vasilios Vathrakoyannis. He noted 'active fronts' in Kythira and Polythea, Messinia, where helicopters, aircrafts, and dozens of firefighters are working to quell flames. He continued, 'We remind you that today is also expected to be a difficult day with a very high risk of fire, almost throughout the territory.' The Greek Ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protections shared that six regions are still at a 'very high fire risk' (risk category 4) for Monday, showing an improvement from Sunday's 11 regions with such a designation. The Associated Press also reported that flames have been blazing in Turkey for weeks now threaten the country's fourth-largest city, Bursa, as the forested mountains around the city became engulfed, forcing over 1,700 civilians to evacuate on Sunday. Orhan Saribal, a member of the Turkish Parliament wrote on social media that there are currently 3,000 fires blazing in over 50 places, and blaming the current Turkish government's response for the severity of the fires' impact. Earlier this month, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) shared that Western Europe was being influenced by a 'strong high-pressure system,' which traps dry air from northern Africa and leads to 'extreme' heat. The WMO added that this extreme heat would lead to elevated air pollution and wildfires—which has come to fruition this weekend. Europe had its hottest June on record this year. The fires come after the WMO confirmed in January that 2024 was the warmest year on record, based on six international datasets—the first calendar year in which the global mean temperature was 'more than 1.5°C above the 1850-1900 average.'
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Italian holiday island set to see 48 degrees this week following Cyprus wildfires
An Italian holiday hotspot popular with Brits could see temperatures soar to near-record highs as soon as this week, including a potential 48C in southern regions. The heatwave, dubbed the third 'African blaze' of the summer, is expected to bring record-breaking temperatures to Sicily and Sardinia throughout July and August. The extreme heat is also expected to hit other parts of Italy, with temperatures in central regions like Rome and Florence nearing 36C, reports El País. Authorities have warned temperatures will sit above average throughout the week, with highs of 42C expected in Italy's southern regions, such as Puglia, Basilicata, Sardinia, and Sicily. The heatwave is expected to push temperatures close to the European record of 48.8C, which was recorded in Floridia, near Syracuse, Sicily, in August 2021, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Filippo Anelli, president of Italy's National Federation of the Orders of Physicians, ordered 'maximum attention' to vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and people with chronic illnesses during the heatwave. Meanwhile, northern Italy is bracing for unstable weather conditions due to the clash between incoming African heat and a low-pressure system over northern Europe. This collision is likely to result in severe thunderstorms, heavy rainfall, and hailstorms, particularly over the Alps and Prealps. Europe is in the grip of an unforgiving bout of extreme weather that is battering popular holiday destinations just as British tourists prepare to head abroad for the summer. Searing heatwaves, devastating wildfires and violent storms are sweeping the continent, threatening lives, scorching landscapes and putting emergency services under immense pressure. Tourist hotspots in Italy and Spain are contending with several punishing blazes, with hundreds of firefighters and water-carrying aircraft dispatched to quell the flames. Sicily battled six separate wildfires last week, with soaring temperatures leading authorities to issue red alert warnings for four provinces this week. Sicily's Forestry Corps and Civil Protection workers were engaged last weekend as they worked to extinguish the fires, with six water-dropping aircraft drafted into control the flames. Yesterday, two people were killed and hundreds evacuated as a massive wildfire tore through southern Cyprus, destroying homes and threatening communities amid an intense heatwave. At least 100 square kilometres (39 square miles) was razed to the ground in a wine–producing region north of the city of Limassol, near popular tourist hotspots, after the blaze broke out around midday on Wednesday, with several fronts still active on Thursday morning. Two people have died after they were burned alive in their car. Local reports say police are now attempting to identify the pair who were trying to escape in the vehicle. At least 10 people were injured, two of them seriously, police said.
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Science
- Irish Times
We are banking on costly, speculative ‘negative emissions technologies' to make climate strategies add up
In May, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) published a report projecting that global temperatures are expected to continue at or near-record levels over the next five years . As global heating accelerates, there is even a small chance (1 per cent, the WMO said) that the temperature rise could exceed 2 degrees in this period. For decades, scientists have been warning about the devastating consequences that even a 1.5-degree increase in global temperatures would bring. You would think that no effort would be spared in implementing workable, scalable solutions and in eliminating fossil energy as quickly as possible. However, international agencies and EU governments are still heavily relying on costly and speculative negative emissions technologies (NETs) to make their climate strategies add up. These technologies are controversial because they often prolong our dependence on fossil energy, cannot be deployed at scale quickly or are hugely expensive compared to energy efficiency and renewables. They include carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), direct air capture (DAC) and bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS). READ MORE CCUS was hyped up after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, but has consistently underperformed since then. The International Energy Agency's 2024 analysis said CCUS roll-out remained nowhere near what was needed to deliver under the Agency's Net Zero Scenario. CCUS would need to capture and store around one gigatonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year by 2030, but current projections estimate the removal of only 430 megatonnes of CO2 by then. To meet the 2050 target, CCUS would have to scale up a hundred-fold. The EU's 2040 target of 90 per cent emission reductions relies heavily on NETs for 'hard-to-abate' sectors such as aviation and industry, projecting that 400 megatonnes of CO2 will be removed permanently. The small number of working DAC projects globally – including an innovative Irish project in Co Waterford called Neg8 Carbon – remove carbon at a steep cost of anywhere between €200 and €1,000 a tonne of CO2 removed. Their potential is largely determined by the price of carbon credits on voluntary carbon markets. The current pipeline of projects will at best remove around three megatonnes of CO2 globally by 2030, which is a drop in the ocean when you consider that global carbon-dioxide emissions last year were about 38 billion tonnes. Enhanced weathering is another carbon removal technology that works, but can at best deliver 30 megatonnes of CO2 a year by 2030. Most of these industrial-sector NETs come with high energy demands, high capital and operational costs and the need for significant CO2 storage infrastructure. As things stand, these technologies are not delivering carbon reductions that are needed. Global emissions of greenhouse gases are still dominated by fossil fuel combustion; until coal, oil and gas are replaced by renewable energy sources we do not stand a chance of averting climate disaster. That is simply physics, not an opinion. Given the timescales available for meaningful action – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that global CO2 emissions need to be halved by 2030 – the reliance on unproven technological solutions to meet near-term targets is ethically and politically disastrous. We should not stop researching them, but policymakers should be acutely conscious of their limitations for staying within the increasingly constrained global and national carbon budgets. We need a technological strategy that is humble and agile. The road to climate neutrality is paved with great ideas that failed to reach the market in time to make a difference or had unintended negative consequences such as job displacement or 'sacrifice zones' to extract critical raw materials. Moving from the laboratory to market requires massive capital investment and a stable, science-based policy framework underpinning research and investment. It also requires public acceptance or what is termed a 'social licence'. Part of the policy challenge is that we take the convenience and availability of fossil energy and chemical fertilisers for granted. To decarbonise the energy system, we will need to redesign it and adapt our use of energy to its availability. For householders, that might mean only using the washing machine when the sun is shining on PV panels or a smart grid and smart tariffs that determine the optimal time to do so. For a manufacturing plant, it means generating and even selling its own power or deploying entirely new production systems, for example, electric arc furnaces. This will require behavioural shifts, organisational modifications and energy market redesigns that are much more complex than the actual technologies involved. Even 'cost-effective' solutions require an implementation pathway, and many proven measures face barriers to market entry, often due to the dominance of fossil incumbents or the lack of grid infrastructure and storage. As long as national policies are pulling in different directions, we won't have the net zero-aligned financial and regulatory framework that new technologies require to make a real impact. But the truth is that many emerging technologies simply can't compete with the growing affordability of solar PV, wind and battery technologies. So what are we waiting for, except the displeasure of the fossil fuel industry? Sadhbh O'Neill is a climate and environmental researcher
Hindustan Times
23-07-2025
- Climate
- Hindustan Times
We must stay prepared for extreme heat and flooding
In March 2025, the World Meteorological Organization confirmed what climate scientists had warned: 2024 was the first year to exceed 1.5 °C above pre‑industrial levels, reaching roughly 1.55–1.6 °C nationwide. That translated into more than 150 unprecedented weather disasters worldwide: heatwaves, floods, storms which displaced over 800,000 people in 2024 and inflicted grave damage on life, livelihoods, crops and infrastructure. The intensity of the incessant rainfall was higher in the eastern suburbs of Ghatkopar, Mankhurd, Govandi, LBS Road in Vikhroli and Bhandup, which are considered chronic flooding spots. (Praful Gangurde /HT Photo) Sea levels rose at 4.7 mm/year in 2024 twice the rate of the early 2000s while global ice losses, record ocean heat, and shrinking Arctic and Antarctic sea ice reached unprecedented lows (WMO). The resulting extremes of heat, drought, storms, flooding affected societies from Asia to the Americas. According to Climate Central and other agencies, about half of humanity some 4 billion people experienced at least one extra month of extreme heat between May 2024 and May 2025 compared to historical norms. In nearly every country, extreme heat days have at least doubled due to global warming. Meanwhile globally, heatwaves remain the deadliest weather event. Asia recorded 1,301 deaths during a June 2024 heatwave near Mecca. Japan's 2024 heatwaves caused 123 deaths and over 37,000 heatstroke hospitalisations. In North America, the 2024 heatwaves killed over 1,000 people in the US and 155 in Mexico, with Death Valley hitting 54°C. Europe endured record heat in 2024–25 causing approximately 2,300 deaths across 12 cities including Spain, Portugal, and the UK. Extreme rainfall and flooding were equally widespread. Floods in Pakistan, Senegal, Italy and Brazil destroyed homes and crops. These disasters also triggered the highest level of climate-related displacement since 2008, over 824,000 people in 2024. As part of the global maelstrom, India has become a climate flashpoint, with nearly 60% of districts representing 76% of the population fall into high or very high heat-risk categories. IIT Gandhinagar reports some 10,000 flash-flood events annually even in central and western India impacting over 90 million hectares. Between April and July 2025, an early heatwave peaked at 48 °C in Rajasthan, linked to at least 455 heat-related deaths. Extreme weather occurred on 88% of days in 2024, killing almost 3,000 people and destroying 80,000 homes (Centre for Science and Environment). These qualify as part of a larger global pattern: warming disproportionally impacting South Asia, Africa, Latin America and the island-State regions least responsible for emissions yet most vulnerable. While mitigation remains vital, adaptation building resilience now is a matter of survival. The UN's Adaptation Gap Report 2023 estimates that developing countries need $194–366 billion annually by 2030, yet receive less than 10% (WMO, UNEP). Every $1 spent on adaptation yields $13 in avoided damage (WMO). As climate extremes become more frequent and severe, countries must shift from reactive relief to proactive resilience. Across the globe, innovative strategies are emerging that offer replicable models of adaptation and preparedness. These best practices, drawn from diverse geographies, highlight both the urgency and opportunity to act now. * Cool cities: Urban heat islands amplify the deadly impact of rising temperatures. Cities like Ahmedabad in India have pioneered early interventions. Its Heat Action Plan focused on public education, early warnings, and hydration stations has significantly reduced heatstroke fatalities over the past decade. Elsewhere, Melbourne combats urban heat by planting over 3,000 shade trees annually, while Paris has designated more than 800 public cooling centres. These low-cost, high-impact urban strategies demonstrate how city design and green infrastructure can save lives and enhance liveability amid rising heat extremes. * Flood protection via nature-based solutions: Flood management need not rely solely on grey infrastructure. The Netherlands' Room for the River programme, which restores floodplains and allows rivers to flow more naturally, has proven effective in mitigating flood risks while enhancing ecosystems. In Southeast Asia, countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines are restoring mangroves to shield vulnerable coastlines. In India, the East Kolkata Wetlands naturally treat wastewater and absorb stormwater, while Chennai and Bengaluru have seen success with Miyawaki forests that not only reduce runoff but also cool microclimates. These examples reveal how nature-based solutions can build dual resilience: protecting lives while restoring biodiversity. * Smarter warning systems and community-based responses: According to the World Meteorological Organization, only about half of the world's countries have effective early warning systems in place. Bangladesh, however, has become a global leader in this space. Through improved cyclone forecasting, pre-emptive evacuations, community drills, and a network of shelters, it has drastically reduced cyclone-related deaths over the years. Countries like India, Nepal, and Brazil should scale up similar models that combine SMS-based alerts, local volunteer brigades, and decentralised command centres to ensure faster and more inclusive responses. * Health system readiness: Climate events often turn into public health crises. Heatwaves exacerbate risks of heatstroke, dehydration, and respiratory illness, while floods lead to outbreaks of waterborne and vector-borne diseases. Japan has institutionalised its heat alert system into school protocols, urban planning, and public health advisories, setting a global benchmark. In India, there is an urgent need to establish district cooling hubs, hydration centres, and train primary healthcare workers to respond to heat- and flood-related illnesses. Post-disaster mental health support also deserves more systematic integration into national health strategies. * Financing resilience: A major bottleneck in scaling preparedness is finance. However, innovative models are emerging. From 2028, Indian banks will mandate climate-risk disclosures and stress testing for businesses, a critical first step toward climate-informed financial systems. Kenya offers another powerful model through its County Climate Change Funds, which decentralise adaptation finance and align spending with local priorities. Globally, climate adaptation finance must scale through tools like green bonds, local climate funds, and weather-indexed insurance schemes that offer quicker recovery and risk-sharing mechanisms, especially for the most vulnerable. * Empowering local communities: At the frontlines of every climate disaster are local communities often under-resourced but deeply adaptive. Grassroots organisations, such as self-help groups in India, climate response brigades in Spain, and youth volunteer corps in Latin America, are proving to be first responders, educators, and long-term resilience builders. Providing these groups with climate training, microgrants, and institutional support can dramatically expand the reach and relevance of adaptation programmes. Climate resilience must be seen not as a top-down mandate, but as a collaborative effort rooted in local knowledge and leadership. Collectively, these strategies underscore a central truth: resilience is local, contextual, and most effective when co-created. While global climate conventions continue to guide broad policy frameworks, it is these grounded, tested, and community-centric models that offer the most hope in a rapidly warming world. The world passed the 1.5 °C threshold in 2024. Without urgent emissions reductions, we are on track for 2 °C warming by 2030, which would multiply climate extremes. That means hotter summers, erratic monsoons, rising seas, degraded food systems, and population migrations on a scale few nations are prepared to handle. From the Philippines to Pakistan, from Sardinia to Sahel, people have been displaced, injured, or killed by disasters already made more likely by human-caused warming. We have solutions and examples. What is lacking is the political will, financing, and collective urgency. Whether in Delhi, Dhaka, Dakar, or Denver, adaptation is now the frontline of the climate crisis. Adaptation is not a fallback, it is the defence. How hardened are our cities, health systems, communities and economies? That will determine how many lives are saved, and how much suffering is averted. The question is no longer will we be hit? How hard and how ready are we? This article is authored by Ananya Raj Kakoti, scholar, international relations, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
