Jan. 10 (UPI) — The European Union’s climate agency said Monday that 2021 was the fifth-hottest year on record and that the past seven years together have been the warmest ever.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service, an arm of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said 2021 was slightly warmer than 2015 and 2018 with its average temperature 0.3 degrees Celsius above the temperature of the 1991-2020 reference point and 1.1-1.2 C above the pre-industrial level of 1850Â-1900.
“Only with determined efforts backed up by observational evidence can we make a real difference in our fight against climate catastrophe,” said Vincent-Henri Peuch, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, according to Politico.
Europe’s temperature was 0.1 degrees Celsius over the 1991-2020 average last year but was still its highest temperature on record.
“July saw a very heavy rainfall event in western-central Europe, leading to severe floods in several countries, while the Mediterranean region experienced a heatwave during July and part of August,” the report said.
Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands suffered severe flooding events while high temperatures affected Greece, Spain and Italy.