Extreme weather highlights urgency of concerted actions

Floods, drought and extremely high temperatures have again marked a summer of extreme weather events across China and, as if to drive home the point, a rarely seen tornado swept through the northeastern province of Liaoning on Wednesday, killing six and injuring 190.

Extreme weather is wreaking havoc elsewhere as well - Europe is sweltering in record-breaking temperatures, India is suffering a severe water shortage, and glaciers in Alaska are fast melting. Actually, the planet has experienced its five warmest years on record from 2015 to 2019 with increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

But the increasing frequency and extent of extreme temperature events have not been seen before, with growing scientific evidence proving they are inseparably linked with climate change. In the latest climate attribution study designed to determine the likelihood of an extreme weather event, a team of scientists at the World Weather Attribution group concluded that every heat wave occurring in Europe today "is made more likely and more intense by human-induced climate change".