11/08/2005 – As European
cities swelter in the summer heatwave, a new
report from WWF, analyzing summer temperature
data from 16 EU cities, shows the continent’s
capitals warming by sometimes more than 2°C
in the last 30 years.
The global conservation organization’s report,
Europe feels the heat - Extreme weather and
the power sector, shows London is the city
where average maximum summer temperature increased
the most, up 2°C over the last 30 years,
followed by Athens and Lisbon (1.9ºC),
Warsaw (1.3ºC), and Berlin (1.2ºC).
Meanwhile, the increase in average summer
mean temperature was highest in Madrid – up
by a staggering 2.2°C, followed by Luxembourg
(2ºC), Stockholm (1.5ºC), and Brussels,
Rome, and Vienna (1.2ºC). In the last
five years, average summer temperatures in
13 of the 16 cities looked at were at least
1ºC higher than during the first five
years of the 1970s.
“Summer temperatures in Europe’s cities are
heading for an 'unbearable' reading on the
thermometer,” said Imogen Zethoven, Director
of WWF’s Global PowerSwitch! Campaign. “Scientists
estimate that man-made greenhouse gas emissions
are doubling the risk of more record-breaking
hikes in temperature.”
WWF’s report highlights the likelihood of
more frequent and intense heatwaves, droughts
and rainstorms as average temperatures increase,
the kind of events expected as a result of
global warming.
It emphasizes that the power sector has fuelled
a major part of this hike in temperatures,
being responsible for 37 percent of man-made
CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels, mainly
coal.
“To make Europe’s cities liveable in summer
we must guarantee the cuts needed in emissions
to switch off global warming,” added Zethoven.
“EU governments must enforce stricter CO2
limits required under the European Emissions
Trading Scheme."
NOTES:
European governments have a vital role to
play by enforcing strict pollution limits
under the European Emissions Trading Scheme
(ETS). From January 2005, the ETS has placed
CO2 limits on the chimney stacks of big companies.
Companies that exceed their limits have to
pay the penalty by being forced to buy unused
pollution allowances from cleaner companies.
Tough pollution limits combined with a powerful
financial incentive to invest in cleaner,
more efficient technologies would transform
the power sector and automatically reduce
its CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, EU governments
agreed to weak limits and weak financial incentives.
Now the ETS is being reviewed,opening up a
big opportunity to get it right next time.
