Climate change intensifies droughts in Europe

Due to climate change, droughts in Europe will last longer, affect greater areas, and have an impact on more people, according to an article published in Nature Climate Change by an international team of scientists coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ). If global temperature increases by three degrees Celsius, the drought regions in Europe will expand from 13 percent to 26 percent of the total area compared to the reference period of 1971 to 2000, writes the UFZ in a press release. “If efforts are successful in limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as stipulated in the Paris Climate Protection Agreement, the drought regions in Europe can be limited to 19 percent of the total area.”

Find the UFZ press release in English here, and the article in English here.