A new analysis by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a group of international scientists, has linked the severe wildfires that have affected France and Spain since the beginning of this month to climate change. The fires have killed three people, destroyed thousands of homes and forced more than 300,000 people to evacuate.
According to the analysis, human-caused climate change has increased the risk of wildfires by at least twofold in France and at least 20-fold in Spain. Under current climate conditions, weather events of this severity are expected to occur once every 20 years in France and once every six years in Spain.
A dry spring following a wet winter led to the growth of vegetation, but the plants later dried out and became fuel for the fires. Experts warned that high temperatures would continue in both countries in the coming days, potentially worsening fire conditions.
Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said in his assessment of the analysis that the fires showed how extreme heat caused by climate change could lead to “devastating national disasters.”
Humanity’s continued burning of vast amounts of coal, oil and gas is scorching our planet, making these conditions more dangerous and making these huge fires deadlier and more destructive.
Stiell called on all countries to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources and protect people from worsening climate impacts.
Clair Barnes, a researcher at Imperial College London’s Centre for Environmental Policy, said the fires were a clear sign that global warming was intensifying.
We have repeatedly seen how climate change is increasing the hot, dry and flammable conditions that are highly conducive to wildfires. We are still at the beginning of the season, and with another heat wave approaching, these findings are extremely frightening. These fires are occurring not in remote areas, but very close to where people live. Every increase in temperature is pushing us into unknown territory.
