Foreword

The WMO State of the Climate in Europe 2021 is the first edition of a climate report to be published annually by WMO’s Regional Association for Europe (WMO RA VI) and the European Union’s Earth observation programme, Copernicus. The report provides the status of key climate indicators using WMO and partner organizations’ operational monitoring systems and the latest data and information on impacts, risks and policy from United Nations agencies. It addresses specific physical science, socioeconomic and policy aspects that are relevant to the WMO RA VI domain and responds to Members’ needs in the fields of climate monitoring, climate change and climate services. The present report also makes use of the latest findings presented in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Copernicus European State of the Climate report.

Europe has warmed at more than twice the global average over the past 30 years, and it is the fastest warming of the six defined WMO Regions. In 2021, a variety of extreme weather and climate events occurred in various parts of Europe. The exceptional severe floods which led to an unprecedented death toll and damages in parts of Western and Central Europe in July, and the destructive wildfires which devastated South-eastern Europe during the summer, will remain in the memories of the affected nations and in the international climatological records. The year 2021 presented a live picture of a warming world and reminded us that even those societies we consider better prepared are not safe from severe impacts of extreme weather events.

In this regard, WMO is leading international efforts through the United Nations Global Early Warning Initiative to strengthen Earth system observations and monitoring, predictive and warning capabilities. On the mitigation side, the good pace in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the region should continue and ambition should be further increased. Enhanced ambition would demand from Europe to play a key role towards achieving a carbon neutral society by the middle of the century, a necessary requirement to limit global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees, as specified in the Paris Agreement.

The present report would not be possible without the invaluable contribution of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), the WMO Regional Climate Centre Network for Europe, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), United Nations agencies, and numerous experts and scientists from the region and worldwide.

I take this opportunity to congratulate the lead authors for the quality of the present report and thank WMO Members, sister United Nations agencies and the contributing experts and scientists for their inestimable support to this publication.

Prof. Petteri Taalas Secretary-General, WMO