Amsterdam, Netherlands – Devastating fires and heatwaves, from Sweden to Japan, have claimed the lives of scores of people all over the world. In Greece alone, the death toll stands at 80 and is feared to rise, while in Japan a heatwave claimed the lives of at least 65 people. Meanwhile blazes have raged from the Russian Far East to Quebec and Ontario, Canada, making this a truly global phenomenon.
Bunny Mcdiarmid, Executive Director of Greenpeace International, said:
“Our hearts go out to people everywhere who have suffered in this growing global tragedy. While there are many complex factors at play with extreme weather events, what we are experiencing is consistent with the predictions of a climate changed world.
“The global spread of these devastating heatwaves points to climate change as a clear factor, and this is still at under 1 degree of warming since pre-industrial levels. The prospect of what we could experience if temperatures rise beyond the goals of 1.5 or 2 degrees set out in the Paris climate agreement does not bear thinking about. We urgently need to rein in climate change if lives like the ones so tragically lost around the world recently are to be saved and even worse extreme weather events prevented in the future.”
ENDS
Contact:
Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), [email protected]