datalab
Key figures on climate
France, Europe and Worldwide
2023 EDITION
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Observations of climate change

Global annual mean temperature change from 1850 to 2022

Sources: IPCC, 1st Working Group, 2021 and HadCrut 5

The global average temperature of land surface air and ocean surface water has risen sharply. The deviation from the average of the pre-industrial reference period 1850-1900 is limited until the mid-1930s, after which it generally becomes slightly positive until around 1980. Since the early 1980s, warming has become clearly more pronounced, and each of the last four decades has successively been the warmest since 1850. Warming over the last decade (2013-2022) is 1.14°C compared with the pre-industrial era.

In 2022, the global average temperature increase reached 1.26°C compared to the pre-industrial era. The years 2015-2022 were the eight warmest on record, despite the cooling effect of a La Niña episode in the last three years.

Glacier melt from 1950 to 2022

Note: annual mass balance of reference glaciers that have been glaciologically measured for more than 30 years. Annual mass change values are given on the y-axis in the unit meter water equivalent (m w.e.) which corresponds to tonnes per square meter: 1,000 kg/m2).
Source: WGMS

In the hydrological years 2020-21 and 2021-22, the observed reference glaciers suffered ice loss of 0.8 m w.e. and 1.2 m w.e.respectively. Eight of the ten years with the most negative values were recorded after 2010. The melting of all continental glaciers (excluding Greenland and Antarctica) contributed 41% of the rise in sea level over the period 1901-2018. The contribution of Greenland and Antarctica (not included in this graph) to the rise in mean sea level was four times greater over the period 2010-2019 than over the period 1992-1999.

Evolution of the global average sea level since 1993

Source: E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information

The rate of sea-level rise derived from tide gauges and altimetry observations has accelerated in recent decades. It has risen from 1.4 mm per year over the period 1901-1990 to 2.1 mm per year over the period 1970-2015, to 3.2 mm per year over the period 1993-2015 (IPCC, SROCC), reaching 4.2 mm per year over the period 2007-2022 (Copernicus, 2023). Around 38% of sea level rise is due to expansion caused by rising water temperatures over the period 1901-2018 (IPCC, 2022).

Evolution of the average annual temperature in Metropolitan France since 1900

Note: the change in mean annual temperature is shown as the deviation from the average observed over the period 1961-1990 (11.8°C).
Scope: metropolitan France.
Source: Météo-France

As on a global scale, the evolution of average annual temperatures in metropolitan France shows a clear warming since 1900. The rate of warming has varied, with a particularly marked increase since the 1980s. In 2022, the average annual temperature across the country reached 14.5°C, 2.7°C above normal (average observed over the 1961-1990 period), replacing 2020 (+2.3°C with 14.1°C) as the hottest year since measurements began in 1900. The warmest years since 1900 are all after the 2000s: 2014 (13.8°C), 2018 (13.9°C), 2020 (14.1°C) and 2022 (14.5°C).

Temperatures and precipitation in metropolitan France from 1959 to 2022

Note: from 2000 onwards, years are colored orange.
Scope: metropolitan France.
Source: Météo-France

Although 2022 was the hottest year on record, it was also the driest, with record rainfall deficits in May and July. July 2022 was almost 85% drier than the 1991-2020 reference average, making it the second driest month since 1959. With an average rainfall deficit of close to 25%, 2022 ranks as the second driest year since 1959, almost on a par with 1989, which remains narrowly in first place, and far ahead of 2005, with a deficit of almost 20%.

Number of fires and area burned in metropolitan France from 2006 to 2022

Scope: metropolitan France.
Source: EFFIS

In France, more than 66,000 hectares of forest have been reduced to ashes, and almost 300 fires were recorded in 2022. Western regions such as Brittany are no longer spared.

In 2022, the European Union recorded a record level of areas burnt by forest fires, with 785,000 hectares going up in smoke. These fires resulted in total CO2 emissions for 2022 estimated at 9 megatons (Copernicus, EFFIS), compared with an average of 6.75 megatons in 2003-2021.

Number of French departments affected by water use restriction orders during the summer

Note: number of French departments affected by at least one prefectoral order restricting water use beyond the"vigilance" level. From 2002 to 2011: on the date of the monthly hydrological situation bulletin; from 2012: on the 15th of the month in question.
Scope: metropolitan France.
Source: Propluvia, Ministry of Ecological Transition. Processing: SDES, 2023

In 2022, a particularly hot and dry year, almost all departments in metropolitan France were affected by a prefectoral water restriction order. The proportion of departments affected was 77% on July 15, 2022, and 97% on August 15 and September 15. The restrictions continued into October, despite a rainy month, and in some cases lasted until the end of the year.

Crisis restrictions, severely limiting or prohibiting non-priority water uses, were put in place in over a quarter of French departments in July, and in almost 80% from mid-August to mid-September.

Since 2015, restrictions on water use during the summer have been observed 7 years out of 8 in more than 50% of French departments.