What is it about?
While the intensity of European heat extremes may remain elevated for centuries under net-zero emissions, delays in emissions reduction will result in even more intense and frequent heat extremes, underscoring the long-term benefits of immediate emissions reduction.
Featured Image
Photo by Rajiv Bajaj on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Over recent decades, European heat extreme events have already disproportionally increased in occurrence, severity, and societal impact, making it essential to gain a better understanding of projected future changes, particularly under net-zero emissions. We show that under net-zero emissions, Europe's hottest temperatures in any European region will not decrease for many centuries. Yet, the path towards net-zero matters, with delays in emissions cessation translating into more severe heat extremes. Our findings are a blueprint for understanding the prolonged implications of decarbonisation, essential for society, stakeholders, and policymakers in setting robust and effective policies addressing emissions reduction and climate change adaptation.
Perspectives
Projections of European heat extremes have been widely explored in the context of continued global warming, but only recently have modelling studies highlighted the multi-centennial climate effects of sustained net-zero emissions. Our study provides the first detailed analysis of European heat extremes in long-term net-zero emissions futures.
Eduardo Alastrué de Asenjo
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: European heat extremes under net-zero emissions, Environmental Research Letters, May 2025, Institute of Physics Publishing,
DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/addee4.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
