Climate change has changed from something very abstract to something tangible, said climate scientist Geert Jan van Oldenborgh in August 2018 in NRC. Van Oldenborgh, who died two years ago, was not known as a man of big words. He only said something about the climate if he could substantiate it with hard figures. The summer of 2018 was exceptionally warm and Van Oldenborgh calculated that the probability of this type of extreme heat in Northern Europe had increased more than twice since humanity started to warm the climate with its greenhouse gas emissions.
The headline above the article on the front page of the paper newspaper at the time read: ‘We have looked climate change in the face’. There was a good scare throughout Europe, including in the Netherlands. With three days of more than 35 degrees and one night in which the temperature did not fall further than 23.6 degrees, there was a ‘super heat wave’, according to weather website Weeronline.
That amazement has diminished considerably over the past five years. It seems that we are looking climate change in the face every summer these days. The Netherlands has so far escaped the dance, except for a few sweltering days in June. But in large parts of the northern hemisphere it is extremely hot. The European record of 48.8 degrees Celsius, set only two years ago in Sicily, may be broken again. Some Rome vacationers are more interested in their hotel room shower than the Colosseum.
The weather is also extreme elsewhere in the world. In Florida, the temperature of the sea water fluctuates around the body temperature of a human being. The American news channel CNN reported Wednesday about a 24-year-old mountain biker in California who died, probably overcome by heat, when he came to the aid of a group of hikers in a natural park. It was over 43 degrees. A little further on, in Death Valley, the 53 degrees tapped. How funny is it then that tourists allowed themselves to be photographed with a fur coat at the thermometer of a visitor center?
In China, where, as in other places in Asia, heat waves and floods have followed each other since April, the temperature also rose last Sunday to above 50 degrees. In the northwestern province of Xinjiang, a temperature of 52.2 degrees was recorded – the highest ever in China, and almost two degrees warmer than the previous record set in 2015.
The extreme temperatures are cause for great concern, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) wrote this week in a news update. But not surprising, the meteorologists added. According to WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas, the world needs to get out of this draw two lessons. First of all, societies will have to protect themselves much better against warming, because it has ‘major consequences for public health, ecosystems, economies, agriculture, energy and water supply’. With more than 60,000 heat deaths in Europe alone last summer, that is no exaggerated warning.
The second lesson that the WMO draws from this is just as important: “This underlines the increasing urgency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and as deeply as possible.” Without removing the cause of warming, there is little point in adapting.
There was not much reason for optimism in that regard this week. US climate envoy John Kerry traveled to China to restart the climate diplomacy between the two economic (and climate-polluting) superpowers that foundered last year. But in four days of intensive talks, both sides mainly blamed each other. “We realize it takes a bit more work,” said a disappointed Kerry afterwards. There was nothing more than an agreement to talk further.
This year, under the guise of reducing inflation, US President Joe Biden successfully pushed the largest climate package ever through Congress – but does not hinder the fossil fuel industry. China is building more renewable energy plants than any other country – but also more coal plants. It is not nearly enough to really stop global warming.
Climate change is a global threat that can only be resolved through dialogue. With temperatures above 50 degrees in both countries this week, it is time for all people and all countries, including the US and China, to realize that.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper on July 22, 2023.