The European Commission has actually granted complete priority status to the natural gas projects without properly assessing any of the impact on the climate at all. The European Union has a watchdog, and it has said that they have granted priority, in a decision. The European Union actually launched an enquiry in the month of February into the commission’s process when it comes to approving fossil fuel projects. It is a label that means that they can receive any kind of funding from the BLOC and also fast track permits. In the conclusion of the enquiry, the Ombudsman actually said that the commission sustainability assessments of the gas projects have actually been suboptimal.
Global warming is something that will have very serious consequences on the health of human beings, the ecosystem and biodiversity. It will also have a huge effect on goods and services. It will affect the social and economic sectors largely. It will affect agriculture, as well. It will even end up affecting energy production and tourism. Tourism is a multibillion-dollar industry, and if it gets affected, there will be a lot of severe repercussions. There are some high-temperature extremes, like hot days and hot nights. Even heatwaves have been observed. All these things will affect human health. This can actually lead to an increase in cases of temperature-related mortality cases. This is usually expected in recent heatwaves. Vulnerable sectors of the population like infants and the elderly will be affected.
The European Union is considering this heavily. Warmer temperatures actually increase the risk of desertification in the southern parts of Europe, and they also have been known to cause a greater risk when it comes to droughts. Low-temperature risks like cold spells and frosty rays could also become very less weakened in Europe. Global warming will affect the predictability of events, and it will therefore cause some response capacity problems.
It will also affect the availability of water. Climate change is definitely expected to affect the availability of water.
Scarcity of water is definitely something that people should be worried about. The changes have actually been observed in the flow of rivers, and they have said that they have been some reduction in the southern and eastern parts of Europe. Freshwater originates mostly in mountain areas and the changes in snow and laser dynamics will affect the availability of water as well. These diminishing water supplies will have a hugely negative impact on the hydroelectric power plants. These are the principal energy sources of large areas in Europe.
We should also keep in mind that we are being threatened by the rising sea level. Coastal areas should be really careful. Almost a third of the European Union’s population lives within 50 km of the cost.
