BRUSSELS • Last year was the hottest on record in Europe, extending a run of exceptionally warm years driven by record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, according to a new study released on Earth Day yesterday.

The continent's average annual temperature last year exceeded records set in 2014, 2015 and 2018, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in its annual European State of the Climate report. Of Europe's 12 warmest years on record, 11 have occurred since 2000.

"This warming trend is now unequivocal anywhere on the planet," C3S director Carlo Buontempo said. "And as a consequence, the frequency of these record-breaking events is going uptempo."

The trend looks likely to continue this year.

Copernicus data from last December to February showed that Europe had its warmest winter on record. The scientists said last year's record temperatures came even though there was no El Nino, a weather pattern that typically leads to higher temperatures. "This made the record-breaking events even more extraordinary," Dr Buontempo said.

Rather, high-pressure weather events helped trigger the heatwaves of last June and July, when countries including France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands posted their record high temperatures.

The scientists said these high-pressure events are likely to become more severe as the world warms.

Concentrations of planet-warming gases in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide and methane, climbed last year and are now at levels not seen on Earth for millions of years, the scientists said.

The 27-country EU plans to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, a pathway that will require transformational change in many sectors of the economy.

REUTERS