Climate change ‘will push European cities towards breaking point’
Study highlights urgent need to adapt urban areas to cope with floods, droughts and heatwaves
Major British towns and cities, including Glasgow, Wrexham, Aberdeen and Chester, could be much more severely affected by climate change than previously thought, according to new research.
The study, by Newcastle University, analysed changes in flooding, droughts and heatwaves for every European city using all climate models.
Looking at the impact by the year 2050-2100, the team produced results for three possible outcomes – low, medium and high-impact scenarios.
But even the most optimistic case showed 85% of UK cities with a river, including London, would face increased flooding.
In the high-impact scenario, some cities and towns in the UK and Ireland could see the amount of water per flood as much as double. The worst affected is Cork, which could see 115% more water per flooding, while Wrexham, Carlisle, Glasgow, and Chester could all see increases of more than 75%.
The increase in severity in the predicted impact has come after the team, in a first of its kind, examined all three climate hazards together in the largest study of its kind ever undertaken.
