Since the devastating heatwave of 2003, the science of ‘attribution research’ has become established. In 2004, studies confirmed that heat stress was exacerbated by climate change, which is primarily fuelled by the burning of coal, oil and gas. In the years that followed, extremely deadly weather events such as Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (2008) and heatwaves in Europe occurred repeatedly, but few studies linked their cause directly to climate change.
To close this gap, the World Weather Attribution (WWA) was launched in 2014. Since then, scientists around the world have been analysing extreme weather events in real time and showing how climate change influences the frequency and intensity of such disasters. Their work has now shown that almost all major natural disasters in recent years, from heatwaves to tropical cyclones, have been exacerbated by human-induced climate change.
Over the years, the WWA has developed a system that enables rapid analyses of extreme weather events worldwide in order to identify the role of climate change and other influencing factors. The conclusion: most natural disasters are no longer ‘natural’ events – they are the result of human activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels.
Visit the WWA website here.
You can find our topic page on attribution research here.