BRUSSELS: Climate change dangers are growing and the European Union is not prepared to cope with extreme heat, wildfires, and worse flooding, an EU agency warned on Monday, reported dpa news.
The dangers of urgent climate threats “are growing faster than our societal preparedness,“ European Environment Agency (EEA) Director Leena Ylä-Mononen said as the agency released a new report.
The first EEA climate risk assessment found that multiple areas, from public infrastructure and finances to health and environment, are in danger, with some in greater peril than previously thought.
The report found that increased drought and rising heat not only endanger crop production in southern Europe but place central European countries at risk too.
Rising heat also poses a threat to energy transmission with heat impacting power lines and droughts affecting energy production in nuclear power plant systems. Flooding could also impact energy production systems in southern Europe.
Extreme heat also impacts premature deaths, exposing large parts of the population to heat stress, particularly in the EU’s south. It is now so hot in southern Europe that mosquitoes can transmit formerly tropical diseases.
The warning comes as the European Commission is set to publish on Tuesday a strategy to boost the bloc’s ability to adapt to climate change. – Bernama, dpa
