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European Union must take climate change and heatwaves seriously!

Ayoub Hameedi

According to NASA, 2023 was the warmest year in our recorded history. The average temperature was 1.2 degree Celsius higher than the average temperature measured by NASA from 1951 to 1980. As per National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 1976 was the last year when we had global average temperature below than the average. From 1977 onwards, each of the passing year had higher than average global temperature. From the record given below, 2023 was indeed the warmest year in our recorded history. All the already spoken facts point in one direction, climate change and heatwaves as its consequence are pretty serious and we cannot afford to bury our head in sand on this issue. We must tackle climate change and resulting heatwaves head-on and do what we can to improve existing situation and to save precious lives.

As per US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), more than 11,000 Americans died prematurely due to heat-related causes between 1979 – 2018. Likewise, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) say that Europe experienced a severe heatwave in 2003 that started from June and lasted till mid-August. As a consequence of this heatwave, the average temperature in southern and central Europe was 3 to 5 degree Celsius higher than the average temperature. The 2003 heatwave in Europe might have caused 35,000 heat-related deaths and the highest number of victims were senior citizens. As per European Climate and Health Observatory, heatwave in 2022 summer caused another 61,000 heat-related deaths in Europe. Altogether, Europe has experienced 2 major heatwaves in 20 years causing close to 100,000 heat-related deaths. Unfortunately, much of the Europe suffered from heatwaves in 2023 starting from June and exponentially expanding in intensity till september. The graph given below is an intellectual property of European Commission:

Unfortunately, in 2023 European Union bravely fought the largest wildfire ever occurred in the territory. An area of 960 square kilometers (i.e. roughly twice the size of Athens) burnt to ashes in Greece in July and August 2023. Altogether, an area of 5000 square kilometers (i.e. London, Paris and Berlin combined) burnt during the wildfire season of 2023. 41% of the southern Europe suffered from strong, very strong and extreme heat stress in July 2023. The photograph given below is an intellectual property of European Commission:

An increase in global average temperature due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases emission and resulting climate change will unfortunately make heatwaves more frequent. European Union is not immune to the negative impacts of climate change. As per European Commission, 38% of the population in European Union was suffering from water scarcity in 2019. Altogether, water scarcity affected 29% of the European Union’s geographical area and on average droughts causes a financial loss of whopping € 2 – 9 billion to European Union’s economy each year. Again as per European Commission, water scarcity and droughts are becoming more frequent and widespread in European Union.

According to International Labour Organization (ILO) report “Working on a warmer plant: The impact of heat stress on labour productivity and decent work” temperatures over 39 degree Celsius can be fatal. In case where it would not kill people, it will seriously hinder their ability to work. People either would not be able to work due to heat or will have to work at a slower pace. The already spoken report further states that even if we will limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degree Celsius, the cumulative financial loss to global GDP due to heat stress is estimated to be USD 2400 billion in 2030. It is important to point out here that financial loss due to heat stress was USD 280 billion back in 1995. Thus, cumulative loss to global GDP due to heat stress is now estimated to be 8.5 times more than the loss we estimated back in 1995. I am afraid, if mitigative actions were not taken in time, the financial loss will further escalate in decades to come.

Climate change is pretty serious and its about time that European Union start to increase its pace to mitigate climate change and its negative impacts. Much is at stake now. As per United Nations, last decade 2014 – 2023 was the warmest decade in our recorded history. We still can limit temperature increase to 1.5 degree Celsius. European Union must do all it can to put a serious dent in its greenhouse gases emission curve and to fight urban heat island affect through an increased forest cover in European cities. European Union member states must do all they can to stop their reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power. Unfortunately, Malta still produces 87% of its electricity from fossil fuels. Similarly, Cyprus generates 83% of its electricity from fossil fuels. Poland produces 78% of its total electricity from fossil fuels. Estonia generates 66% of its total electricity from fossil fuels. Italy generates 63% of its electricity from fossil fuels. Ireland generates 61% of its electricity from fossil fuels. Netherlands generates 57% of its total electricity from fossil fuels. Greece produce 54% of its electricity from fossil fuels. Germany generates 50% of its total electricity from fossil fuels. We have the solutions ready to eliminate our reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power. We have what it takes to mitigate climate change and its negative impact on us and our societies.

© Copyright 2024 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.

Letter to Isabella Lövin

Sunday 24-01-2021

Subject: Thank you Isabella Lövin

Dear Isabella Lövin,

I hope that this letter would find you in the best of health and spirit. I am writing this letter to acknowledge the actions you took from the platform of Swedish Green Party while serving as the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Environment and Climate and prior to that as Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate. The first and the foremost is the signing of Swedish Climate law that made it mandatory for the present and the future governments to take concrete actions that would help Sweden to be climate neutral by 2045. The Swedish Climate Bill was implemented from January 1, 2018 and set a concrete example of steps needed to achieve the goals outlined in Paris Climate Agreement. I certainly believe that signing the Swedish Climate Law was the best action you took as the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden. However, the event was more than just binding Sweden to be climate neutral by 2045.

(Photo Credit: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden)

The famous photograph (given above) became the symbol of women empowerment and a direct challenge for guys (like Donald J Trump) who still believe in patriarchy and thus maintains the cave era thinking in 21st century.  Another much applauded step you took was to take Jimmie Åkesson head on in the parliamentary debate on Jimmie’s senseless support for Trump and his outdated ideology. In my opinion, that was a much needed step in the right direction since none of us would like to see Trump’s ideology getting implemented in Sweden. It is our moral responsibility to protect the free and open Swedish society we currently enjoy. Likewise, your most recent speech where you encouraged the young guns to participate more actively in politics and be the change they want to see in Swedish society was equally motivating.

Climate change is the biggest challenge we face right now and the sooner we would realize this fact and act to minimize its negative consequences, the better it would be for us and everyone else. Thank you so much for raising awareness on the issue of climate change in Swedish parliament and beyond. I would like to finish this letter with a quote from Paul Hawken:

“Biological diversity is messy. It walk, it crawls, it swims, it swoops, it buzzes. But Extinction is silent, and it has no voice other than our own”

Thank you so much for becoming that voice.

Kindest Regards,

Ayoub Hameedi

© Copyright 2021 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.

Letter to Jimmie Åkesson

Thursday 16-08-2018

Subject: Climate change is a serious issue

Dear Jimmie Åkesson,

I hope that you will be fine. I am writing this letter with the aim to highlight the fact that climate change is a serious issue. My reason is that as a citizen of Sweden, it is my responsibility to take right steps in the right direction to make this beautiful country an even better place to live in. Creating awareness on the issue of climate change is one such example. According to NASA, 2017 was the second hottest year in our recorded history. On the given reference, you will find a video reflecting the warming trend. Please observe Sweden from 1986 as it gets warmer and warmer from that point on. Similarly, the hottest year was 2016 where the global temperature increase was 0.99 degrees higher than the normal. An increase in global average temperature started remaining in plus figure from 1978 and since than it has reflected an upward trend.

As a reader to this letter, you might like to know the reasons causing an increase in global average temperature. We have managed to disturb the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in our atmosphere. It is important to point-out, that the concentration of carbon dioxide gas was 320 parts-per-million in 1950 and we have managed to increase it to 400 parts-per-million more recently. This disturbance in the concentration of carbon dioxide is the root cause. One of the most visible consequence of rising temperature is an increase in sea level that now rises 3.2 millimeters on annul basis. Collectively, sea-level has increased approximately around 85.1 millimeters since 1993. The primary factor causing the rise in sea level is the melting of ice from Greenland and Antarctica. Both places now collectively lose around 413 gigatonnes of ice mass on annual basis.

Climate change is a serious environmental issue for Sweden. The sooner we would recognize this fact and take mitigating actions, the easier it would be for us to deal with it. Nature took around 4.5 billion years to create this beautiful planet and it is our responsibility to take care of it. With this note, I would like to end this letter with the hope that it might change your point of view on the issue of climate change. In case of questions, please do let me know. Thank you for your time.

Kindest Regards,

Ayoub Hameedi

© Copyright 2018 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.