Scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) see extreme weather events in parts of Germany as evidence of permanent climate change.
“Weather conditions that previously gave us tolerable summer temperatures or a longed-for rain shower are changing.
And we feel that in the increasing intensity and duration of heat waves and heavy rain days, ”said PIK researcher Peter Hoffmann of the Rheinische Post.
While there used to be an average heat wave of four days per summer in Germany, today there are on average two four-day heat waves and in extreme summers such as 2018 and 2019 even three or more, said Hoffmann. This is a "development that is very likely to continue in the coming decades, but can be limited in the long term by far-reaching climate protection measures".
The climate protection activist Luisa Neubauer called on the political decision-makers to take “courageous measures” in the fight against climate change.
"People and cities are not built for these climate catastrophes, the suffering is unbearable," said Neubauer of the Rheinische Post.
Three months before the general election, "it would be the moment to show that we intend to get the crisis under control," said Neubauer.
Experts agree that much more has to be done around the world by 2030 if global warming is to remain well below two degrees, as agreed in 2015 by almost 200 countries in Paris.
The earth has already heated up by around 1.2 degrees compared to pre-industrial times.
Heat wave in Canada
In Canada, an extreme heat wave resulted in numerous deaths since the beginning of the week.
Police said on Tuesday, 134 sudden deaths have been recorded in the greater Vancouver area.
Canada's weather service posted a national temperature record of 49.5 degrees.
The phenomenon of the "heat dome" is responsible for the extreme heat in Canada and the Northwest of the USA - the high pressure in the atmosphere holds the hot air in the region.
According to weather experts at the Washington Post, the intensity of this heat dome is "statistically so rare that on average it can only be expected once every few thousand years".
The man-made climate change, however, "made this type of extraordinary event more likely," explained the experts.
A draft report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, reported by the AFP news agency last week, warned that global warming of two degrees compared to the pre-industrial era would put 420 million additional people at risk of heat waves.