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Climate crisis enters heart of global economy

30 0
30.06.2026

The world is once again burning. Climate change, driven largely by human activity, is becoming an increasingly deadly force. What was once described as a distant environmental problem has now become an immediate public health emergency, an economic burden, and a structural threat to modern societies. From collapsing infrastructure to rising mortality, the consequences of global warming are no longer theoretical. They are measurable, visible, and accelerating.

In recent decades, the Earth's climate system has undergone profound changes. Some countries are facing unprecedented heat, while others are experiencing unusually harsh winters, intense snowfall, or disruptive shifts in seasonal patterns. These developments are not isolated anomalies. Scientists describe them as part of a broader destabilization of the global climate system - one that includes rising average temperatures, melting glaciers, sea-level rise, altered rainfall cycles, and a growing frequency of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, and wildfires.

One of the clearest indicators of this transformation has been the steady rise in global average temperature. Scientists reported that during the first ten months of 2015, the planet's average temperature was already 1.02°C above the pre-industrial baseline of the nineteenth century. That moment was symbolically important because it marked the first time in modern recorded history that the one-degree threshold had been crossed. Since then, the warming trend has only continued, reinforcing concerns that the world is moving closer to climate tipping points with each passing year.

There is now overwhelming scientific consensus that the main driver of this warming is human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas. These fuels account for the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions, including nearly 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions globally. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, intensifying the natural greenhouse effect and causing the planet to warm at a rate unprecedented in human civilization. This process does not simply make summers hotter. It disrupts atmospheric circulation, intensifies droughts, alters ecosystems, and magnifies the severity of extreme weather.

Europe offers one of the most alarming examples of this new climate reality. In recent years, the continent has experienced a series of severe heatwaves that........

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