France Hard Hit by Climate Change and Poorly Prepared for Consequences

(Patria) - France is severely affected by climate change and is not ready for the consequences, AFP reported, citing the French High Council for Climate (HCC). Record heat and exceptional drought from last year had "serious consequences in France" and are beyond what current prevention and crisis management systems can handle, according to the HCC's annual report.

The Western European country recorded a temperature of 2.9 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average, the report states. Agriculture has been severely affected, with crop yields falling by 10-30 percent, while drought conditions meant "practically no reproduction" of some amphibians and "low or abnormal reproduction" of waterfowl.

Problems with drinking water affected more than 2,000 municipalities, while 8,000 others requested a declaration of "natural disaster" due to drought, which causes cracks in buildings as a result of the shrinking and swelling of clay soil, the report says.

The health system recorded "2,816 excess deaths in 2022," the HCC added. The report also states that France was poorly prepared to fight forest fires and was forced to call in reinforcements from abroad.

These effects will only intensify as climate change progresses. Last week, a report by the World Meteorological Organization and the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service stated that Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world, and that it was about 2.3 degrees Celsius warmer last year than in pre-industrial times. Europe, which is warming at twice the global average since the 1980s, experienced its hottest summer on record last year, and countries including France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom experienced their warmest year on record.

France has committed to reducing its emissions by 40 percent by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

The HCC calls for a "far-reaching economic policy" requiring public and private financing of "30 billion euros per year from now until 2030" to decarbonize the economy, prioritizing transport, the sector with the highest emissions.