what is the climate change connection to a heat wave? heat waves are really the easiest thing we can link directly to climate change. and increasingly climate scientists are saying there s no way we would have seen a heat wave like we ve been seeing over the last few weeks, all across the planet, if we hadn t warmed the planet, if we didn t have climate change. reporter: a new report by worldwide attribution scientists say these once rare extreme heat waves are not rare in today s climate. they warn that unless the world rapidly stops burning fossil fuels, these events will become even more common, occurring every two to five years. this isn t like a permanent situation. if we stopped burning fossil fuels, the temperature would start to stabilize. unfortunately, until we do that, there s a lot of warming in the system and it s going to keep getting worse. reporter: we have already warmed the planet by 2 degrees since pre-industrial times. we are on track to reach 5.8 degrees of
in india and bangladesh in may and cost $3 billion in just a few days. it also forced more than a million people to evacuate. most of the countries on this list are richer nations, where it s easier to measure financial losses because people are more likely to have insurance. dr kat kramer is the report s author. she explained more about what she found. well, we looked at the top ten most expensive extreme weather events and occurrences that were climate related this year, and i think it s important to say that they can t be directly ascribed to climate change, perhaps. but a number of them have been studied by attribution scientists. this is a new area of science that s looking at seeing how much more likely an extreme weather event is or how much more powerful an extreme weather event is because of human caused climate change. so, we looked at the top ten in terms of the economic costs because, as you say, there is the data to do that. but we also looked at five
to climate change, perhaps, but a number of them have been studied by attribution scientists, and this is a new area of science that is looking at seeing how much more likely an extreme weather event is, or how much more powerful an extreme weather event is because of human caused climate change. so we looked at the top ten in terms of the economic costs, because, as you say, there is the data to do that, but we also looked at five additional devastating events which occurred, which maybe didn t have necessarily the same financial impact, but also were important for the numbers of deaths of a number of people displaced that they caused. also trying to put that focus on the losses and damages being suffered by developing countries. the national trust has published its annual reckoning of uk wildlife winners and losers though the year. some species have flourished while others have been hit by weather events. 0ur climate editor
in just a few days. it also forced more than a million people to evacuate. most of the countries on this list are richer nations, where it s easier to measure financial losses, because people are more likely to have insurance. dr kat kramer is the report s author. she explained more about what she found. we looked at the top ten most expensive extreme weather events and occurances that were climate related this year, and i think it s important to say that they can t be directly ascribed to climate change, perhaps, buta number of them have been studied by attribution scientists, and this is a new area of science that is looking at seeing how much more likely an extreme weather event is, or how much more powerful an extreme weather event is because of human caused climate change. so we looked at the top ten in terms of the economic costs, because, as you say, there is the data to do that, but we also looked at five additional devastating events which occurred, which maybe didn t have nec
thirteen for example the climate data showed no significant deviation in expected rainfall so there must have been other reasons for the floods buildings too close to rivers perhaps a lack of dredging a lack of flood plains in other words failure as a government level. but elsewhere in europe climate change has led to natural disasters the south of the continent has experienced repeated record heat waves in the last few years attribution scientists say that s because the probability of extreme temperatures has multiplied leading to more forest fires water shortages and drought worldwide habitable zone so shrinking which could have drastic knock on effects millions of people could potentially be forced from their homes. by hits of in with all the heat waves that we studied on various continents europe in summer is in fact one of