Climate change

No, we are not living in the Anthropocene, scientists conclude

A scientific panel responsible for delineating the past 2.6 million years of geologic history decided that the “Age of Humans” should not be defined as a new geological epoch.

Facing the Climate Emergency

A book that changes the way you look at the daily rollercoaster of alarming news of the impacts of climate change, and makes you want to act yourself.

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At least half of all glaciers will be gone by 2100

Even if global temperatures rise by no more than 1.5°C, around 104,000 glaciers will disappear by 2100. At least half of those will vanish by 2050.

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Each summer will last about half a day longer than the previous one

By 2100, compared with 2014, average summer in the Northern Hemisphere will last 20% longer under a moderate, and 50% longer under a high-end scenario of climate change.

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Latest projections of future temperatures over Europe

Warming will be largest both in northern and southern Europe. In northern Europe, in particular the coldest winters will be less cold. In southern Europe, the hottest summers will be much hotter.

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Climate extremes have already changed over Europe

Half of European territory is now experiencing unusually warm temperatures in the summer compared to 50 years ago. Winter precipitation has increased in the North, drought intensity in the South.

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Trees can cool European cities up to 12 °C on a hot day

The cooling effect of trees is high in cities in Central and Eastern Europe, and on the British Isles, and much less in Southern Europe, where limited soil moisture availability limits transpiration.

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Extreme European heatwaves of 2019 now several times more likely due to climate change

Without climate change, the heatwave of July 2019 in France and the Netherlands, with temperatures over 40 °C, would have been more than 10 times less likely, scientists conclude.

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Scandinavian winters are getting shorter at a rapid pace

Northern Europe is warming much faster than the global mean. By mid-century, summers will last about a month longer here, and winters will become one to two months shorter, model projections show.

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USA and EU responsible for 69 per cent of climate breakdown, new study shows

The consequences of economic development of high-income countries are passed on to low-income countries. The climate debts the first ones owe to the latter ones have been quantified.

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Europe’s heat waves of 2018 highly unlikely without human-caused warming

Recent publications show that Europe’s summer of 2018 was exceptionally warm, with all-time temperature records set across the continent, including Scandinavia, central Europe, and the British Isles.

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The pace of smashing extreme temperature records is increasing

By the end of this century, far more temperature records will be set under a high-end than under a low-end scenario of climate change, and far more of these records will be ‘smashing’.

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Observed loss of carbon in thawing Alaskan permafrost faster than previously thought

Measurements of thawing permafrost in Alaska showed a loss of soil carbon in the upper 55 cm of 5.4% per year, indicating much faster release of carbon dioxide and methane than previously thought.

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Across Europe, cold extremes are warming more rapidly than hot extremes

Where hot extremes have increased by 0.33 °C per decade from 1950 to 2018, the trend for cold extremes is 0.49 °C per decade. A 50% difference!

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Global warming may increase destructive potential of hurricanes in the Mediterranean

When the Mediterranean Sea warms up, hurricanes in the area are likely to become more vigorous. Their winds will be stronger, and they will lead to more intense precipitation, increasing flood risk.

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European capitals ranked by exposure to heat waves: Valletta at the top, Amsterdam at the bottom

In 2050, very severe heat waves are most likely in Valletta (Malta), Madrid, Rome and Sofia. By then, the probability of an extreme heat wave to occur is relatively low only in Amsterdam.

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Strong increase extreme heat events Portugal will have massive impacts

The latest high-resolution climate model projections confirm earlier projections for mainland Portugal: hot days will get much hotter, and heat waves more frequent and extreme.

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When the soil dries out, Europe’s heat waves will become more extreme than previously thought

Evaporation cools the earth surface and hence soil moisture is a constraint on heat wave temperatures. Depletion of soil moisture may strongly amplify future heat waves, like the one of 2010.

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For ice-free summers in the Arctic 1.5 or 2 °C global warming makes a huge difference

The likelihood of any September to be completely ice-free by the end of this century at 2 °C global warming is 35%, a recent study shows. If warming is limited to 1.5 °C, this is only a few percent.

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Winter snow depths in Europe are decreasing, except for the coldest regions

Mean and maximum winter snow depths are decreasing over Europe except for the coldest regions. Over the period 1951-2017 this decrease was little over 10% per decade.

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Drier summers may lead to more flash floods in Scotland 
and Northern England

In the northern UK, drier summers may lead to more frequent flash flooding, affecting soil erosion, agriculture, and stream water quality. While mean precipitation decreases, extremes will increase.

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What will our summers look like if we do reach the targets of the Paris Agreement?

The 10% most extreme summer maximum temperatures in a 2°C warmer world cannot be reached when global warming is restricted at 1.5°C. This corresponds to the most extreme and severe heat waves.

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The early onset of Europe’s mega heat wave of 2017, a sign of things to come?

Europe’s summer season starts earlier, by 4 days per decade. As a result, mega heat waves may occur unusually early in the year when compared to the historical record. This was the case in 2017.

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New climate law in the Netherlands: ambitions are high!

A large majority of Dutch Parliament agreed on a climate law to reduce the emission of green house gasses by 95% in 2050 compared to 1990 levels.

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Paris Agreement may have a strong impact on future extreme heat waves

An increase from 1.5 °C to 2 °C global warming already doubles the frequency of extreme heat waves over most of the globe and strongly increases the number of people affected.

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Mitigating global warming can reduce strong increase record-breaking summer temperatures by 50%

On a global basis, moderate climate mitigation can reduce the probability that a summer in 2070 exceeds the historical record temperature of the past 100 years from 80% to 41%.

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Press release: The geography of future water challenges

The geography of future water challenges, a global hotspot analysis of water and climate challenges carried out by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, will be presented on 19 April 2018

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In the near future twice as many heat waves over Central Europe

In Central Europe heat waves will probably occur twice as often in the coming decades compared with previous decades. For the end of this century 2-4 heat waves are expected per summer.

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Glacier retreat can be slowed down by artificially produced snow

A feasibility study shows that the retreat of the Morteratsch Glacier in Switzerland can be slowed down by artificially produced snow, thus extending the ‘lifespan’ of this major touristic attraction.

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European heat waves like in the 1950s: what if climate hadn’t changed?

If Europe’s climate hadn’t changed since the 1950s, the number of hot days with maximum temperature over 35 °C would have been 25-50% less.

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Climate change will be a spearhead for the new and ‘greenest Dutch government ever'

The Netherlands is about to get a new government. Climate change will be a spearhead and one of the Ministers will be a Minister for "Economic and Climate Affairs".

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At least one-third of Asian glaciers will disappear

Even if the planet only warms up by 1.5 °C, the target of the Paris agreement, one-third of all Asian glaciers will have melted by 2100, according to research carried out by Dutch scientists.

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Far more heat wave days and far less cold spells in Spain and Portugal this century

In Spain and Portugal the number of heat waves, their duration and intensity will increase in the course of this century. At the same time, less cold spells will occur, and they will become less cold.

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More precipitation in the North, less in the South, but what about Central Europe?

The general future trend for Europe is an increase of mean precipitation in northern Europe, and a decrease in the south. But what about Central Europe, the transition zone?

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Maximum summer temperature in France could easily exceed 50 °C by 2100

Current record maximum summer temperature in France is about 42°C. Under a high-end scenario of climate change record maximum value could easily exceed 50 °C by the end of this century.

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No slowdown, no acceleration. Global warming trend has been steady since the 1970s

There is no statistical evidence for a ‘slowdown period’ with a significantly reduced rate of warming in the period 1998-2014 or an acceleration of global warming in recent years.

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We have made Europe’s warmest year of 2014 at least 500 times more likely

So far, 2014 is Europe’s hottest year on record. Research shows that anthropogenic climate change has made Europe’s warm year of 2014 at least 500 times more likely.

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Future heat waves in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East: hot spots of climate change

At the end of this century, several heat waves per year will occur in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. The number of heat wave days will increase by 20 - 130 days per year.

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Europe’s extreme heat wave of 2010: not just due to climate change

The heat wave in 2010 was likely the hottest summer in the last 500 years in eastern Europe. It was both due to natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change.

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Strong reduction Portuguese precipitation under climate change

Precipitation in Portugal is projected to decrease throughout this century, and more clustered into extreme events, accentuating the vulnerability

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Heat and cold waves trends in the Carpathian Region

In the Carpathian Region, heat wave events have become more frequent, longer, more severe and intense over the period 1961 - 2010, in particular in summer

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Explaining extreme events of 2014 from a climate perspective

Recently, the American Meteorological Society published a large number of studies on extreme events in 2014, focused on the question whether these can be (partly) attributed to climate change.

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Range minimum - maximum temperatures changes differently across Europe

Many impact studies assume that climate change results in changing daily minimum and maximum temperatures by the same amount and in the same direction. However, on local scales

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Climate change impacts on high precipitation events in England and Wales

Are the floods like those in 2007 just bad luck or is heavy rainfall in summer, especially in July, something we have reasons to expect

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Changes of future western European heat wave characteristics

Extreme heat waves have an impact on western European electricity supply due to the increased electricity demand for cooling and the power limitation of thermoelectric plants

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Climate change and the permafrost carbon feedback

In high-latitude regions of the Earth, temperatures have risen 0.6 °C per decade, twice as fast as the global average. The resulting thaw of frozen ground

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Global occurrence of heavy-precipitation and high-temperature extremes due to global warming

Specific individual extreme weather events cannot be attributed to climate change. It has been shown, however, that the overall probability of climate change having an effect on extreme events can be

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Elevation-dependent warming in mountain regions of the World

There is growing evidence that the rate of warming is amplified with elevation, such that high-mountain environments experience more rapid changes in temperature

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Heat wave characteristics in the eastern Mediterranean

Studies have shown that in the eastern Mediterranean, the intensity, length and number of heat waves have increased by a factor of six to eight since the 1960s. Not all studies confirm

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Projected changes in hailstorms during the 21st century over the UK

Due to climate change, a downward trend in the total number of damaging hailstorms during the 21st century was projected

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New high-resolution climate change projections for Europe

The latest high-resolution future climate simulations for Europe (from the EURO-CORDEX program) refer to a horizontal resolution of 12.5 km. The first results address changes

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Sea-ice changes in the Gulf of Finland

Results from an analysis of the inter-annual variability of ice conditions at a coastal site in the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea) during the period 1927–2012 showed a significant decrease

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Future temperature and precipitation changes in the Swiss Alps.

Warming is stronger in the Alps than in the Swiss lowlands: about 1 °C for the summer in the second half of the 21st century compared with 1980–2009.

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Precipitation patterns and trends in The Netherlands during 1951–2009

During 1951–2009, the coastal area of the Netherlands has consistently become wetter compared with the inland area. Sea surface temperature was shown to have a larger influence on precipitation.

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Trends and future projections for winter warm events in the Ebro basin

Between 1959 and 2005 the occurrence of warm events in the winter (December to March) in the Ebro basin has increased. This explains the change in snow accumulation

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Future key climate indices in Switzerland

Climate change projections for the end of the century indicate a doubling of the number of summer days, tropical nights even above 1500 m and a

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Twenty-first century glacier mass changes

Current global glacier volume is projected to reduce by 29 - 41% over the period 2006–2100. Scandinavia may lose more than 75% of its current volume

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Snow variability in Romania during 1961–2010

The winter season in Romania has changed substantially during 1961–2010. A statistical analysis was

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Climate change at the Croatian Adriatic

In the period 1951–2010, a statistically significant increase in the mean annual temperature of 0.07–0.22°C per decade is present along the Croatian coastal zone.

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Alpine snow cover in a changing climate

Strong reduction of snow cover in the Alps is expected to have major impacts on winter tourism. Many ski-regions have mean elevations below 2,000 m

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Trends in European precipitation extremes over 1951–2010

In Europe, 1-day and 5-day precipitation events that occurred on average once in 5, 10 and 20 years in the 1950s and 1960s generally became more common during the period 1951–2010.

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Precipitation changes Germany until 2040

The results show that in winter, the study area becomes moister (in the order of 5–10%) like most of Northern Europe. The changes of extreme precipitation in winter are of the same magnitude.

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Eastern Mediterranean heat extremes and air pollution in the twenty-first century

Across the Balkan Peninsula and Turkey climate change is particularly rapid, and especially summer temperatures are expected to increase strongly.

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Precipitation increase in the Netherlands in the past century

Changes in the annual precipitation amounts, the precipitation amounts in the winter and summer halves of the year, ...

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Climate change simulations over climate zones of Turkey

Projected warming over Turkey’s climatic regions in 2100 under SRES A2 emission scenario is in the range of 2–5°C ...

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Trends in seasonal precipitation and temperature in Slovenia during 1951–2007

During the period 1951–2007, mean annual temperatures in Slovenia have increased significantly by 0.15 to 0.29°C/decade ...

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Parisian urban climate change

Model calculations project an increase of 2-meter air temperature for Paris between 1971–2006 and 2072–2098 of +2.0/2.4°C in winter and +3.5/5.0°C in summer ...

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Simulating climate change in UK cities

For London an urban heat island effect was calculated of 2.0 ± 0.3°C for minimum temperature in summer and of 1.1 ± 0.3°C for minimum temperature in winter ...

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The future of dry and wet spells in Europe

Changes in dry and wet spell characteristics in Europe have been projected for 2021–2050 compared with 1961–1990 ...

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Mega heat waves in Europe

During the 2001–2010 decade, 500-year-long records of highest air temperature were likely broken over 65% of Europe, including ...

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A decade of weather extremes

Based on the evidence published in scientific literature so far (2012) there is now strong evidence for notably heat waves and ...

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Extreme hot and dry summers in the Eastern Mediterranean

For the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East a continual, gradual and relatively strong warming is projected ...

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