Extreme climate impacts seen globally in heatwaves, fires and flooding: comment

"After heatwaves in Europe and floods in Texas claimed lives in recent weeks [1], our planet’s increasingly fractured climate is now driving extreme heat and fires in Greece, Turkey and the Middle East [2], flooding in Pakistan and South Asia [3], and a heat dome over parts of the United States [4].

"These impacts get worse as we continue to burn fossil fuels; and the costs in human misery and financial loss climb and climb. With less than four months until the next UN climate summit, they are further stark warnings added to the teetering pile of evidence that we are running out of time for world leaders to up their games in time to avert ever more dangerous threats long into our future.

"Net zero emissions is the only solution we have to climate change, and the clean energy that achieves that also brings jobs, growth, better health and greater food security. It remains to be seen whether this plays through into national commitments, as the deadline nears for nations to offer up their emissions pledges before COP."