With tens of million people affected in the northern hemisphere and July on track to be the hottest month globally since records began, experts warn that worse is to come unless we reduce planet-heating emissions.
Severe heatwaves have gripped southern Europe, parts of the United States, Mexico and China this month, with temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius.
In the new rapid analysis of the scorching temperatures, scientists from the World Weather Attribution group found that the heatwaves in parts of Europe and North America would have been almost impossible without climate change.
Temperatures in China were made 50 times more likely by global warming, they found.
"The role of climate change is absolutely overwhelming," said climate scientist Friederike Otto, of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London.
Intense temperatures have swept much of the southwest and southern United States -- including in Phoenix, Arizona, which suffered a record-breaking three straight weeks of highs above 43C.
Blazes on the Greek mainland and islands have caused tens of thousands to flee, sent tourists scrambling for evacuation flights and prompted the prime minister to say the country is "at war".
In Beijing, the government urged the elderly to stay indoors and children to shorten outdoor playtime to reduce exposure to the heat and ground-level ozone pollution.
- 'More extreme' -
Scientists have already established that climate change -- with about 1.2C of global warming since the late 1800s -- has made heatwaves in general hotter, longer and more frequent.
To trace how far the July heatwaves in the northern hemisphere had departed from what would have been expected without that warming, Otto and her WWA colleagues used weather data and computer model simulations to compare the climate as it is today with that of the past.
Researchers said they focused on periods when "the heat was most dangerous in each region".
Otto said in the past it would have been "basically impossible" that such severe heat waves would happen at the same time and that people should no longer be surprised to see temperature records tumbling.
The future could be even worse.
"As long as we keep burning fossil fuels we will see more and more of these extremes."
The researchers found that these severe heatwaves can now be expected roughly once every 15 years in North America, every 10 years in southern Europe and every five years in China.
And they will become even more frequent -- happening every two to five years -- if temperature rise reaches 2C, expected in around 30 years unless countries fulfil their Paris Agreement pledges and rapidly cut emissions.
The study also found that these heatwaves were hotter than they would have been without climate change.
Last week leading NASA climatologist Gavin Schmidt told reporters that July 2023 is not just on track to be the hottest absolute month since records began, but also the hottest in "hundreds, if not thousands, of years".
Experts have said that the surging heat cannot be attributed solely to the warming El Nino weather pattern, which is not expected to strengthen until later on in the year.
As with other impacts from climate change, it is those most vulnerable who are most at risk.
Last week, the World Health Organization said the extreme heat was straining healthcare systems, hitting older people, infants and children.
The WHO said it was particularly concerned about people with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and asthma.
Police remove Greta Thunberg from protest hours after fine
Malmo, Sweden (AFP) July 24, 2023 -
Swedish police removed climate campaigner Greta Thunberg from a protest on Monday, an AFP photographer reported, hours after a court fined her for disobeying law enforcement at a rally last month.
The 20-year-old activist, who has become a key face of the movement to fight climate change, had earlier in the day appeared in court, accused of disrupting traffic and refusing to leave a June protest in port city Malmo.
"It's correct that I was at that place on that day, and it's correct that I received an order that I didn't listen to, but I want to deny the crime," Thunberg told the court when asked about the charge against her.
Thunberg said she had acted out of necessity, citing the urgency created by the "climate crisis".
The rally, organised by environmental activist group Reclaim the Future, tried to block the entrance and exit to the Malmo harbour to protest against the use of fossil fuels.
"According to me we are in an emergency, and then due to that my action was legitimate," she told reporters after the trial.
- Not backing down -
After a short trial, the court found her guilty and issued a fine of 1,500 kronor ($144) plus an additional 1,000 kronor to the Swedish fund for victims of crime.
The crime she was convicted of can carry a maximum sentence of six months in prison, but usually these types of charges result in fines.
Asked if she would exercise more caution in the future following her fine, Thunberg said they were "definitely not going to back down".
"We know that we cannot save the world by playing by the rules because the laws have to be changed," the activist said.
"It is absurd that the ones acting in line with the science, the ones blocking the fossil fuel industry are the ones having to pay the price for it," she added.
Hours later, Thunberg joined a protest similar to the one in June that resulted in her being fined.
Sitting on the road leading to the Malmo port, she put out a sign reading "I block tanker trucks".
- Same crime -
After about an hour, Thunberg and five others were forcibly removed by police, an AFP photographer at the port reported.
"Six people have been removed from the scene," police said in a statement, adding they would be reported for "Disobeying police orders", the same crime Thunberg had just been fined over.
Thunberg shot to global fame after starting her "School Strike for the Climate" in front of Sweden's parliament in Stockholm at the age of 15.
She and a small band of youths founded the Fridays for Future movement, which quickly became a global phenomenon.
In addition to her climate strikes, the young activist regularly lambasts governments and politicians for not properly addressing climate issues.
Reclaim the Future insists that despite the legal pressures, it remains unbowed in its determination to stand up to the fossil fuels industry.
"If the court chooses to see our action as a crime it may do so, but we know we have the right to live and the fossil fuels industry stands in the way of that," group spokeswoman Irma Kjellstrom told AFP.
Six people present at the June protest have or will face charges at the court in Malmo.
"We young people are not going to wait but will do what we can to stop this industry which is burning our lives," she said, explaining the group's plans for continuing civil disobedience.
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