Europe becomes fastest-warming continent on Earth: climate change expert

Europe is becoming the fastest-warming continent on Earth, with climate change acting as a powerful "risk amplifier" for extreme weather and its consequences, according to Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

During an interview with China Media Group, Burgess said Europe is warming at twice the global average rate.

"Climate change ultimately is a risk multiplier. Europe is the fastest warming continent, warming at twice the global average rate. Continued global warming or climate change will intensify extreme events, so that means heat waves will continue to get more frequent, more intense, and last longer in a warmer world," she said.

Since May, multiple heatwaves have swept across Europe. Copernicus data show Western Europe recorded its hottest June on record, with countries such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom breaking or close to breaking their historical high-temperature records for the same period.

The combination of extreme heat and drought has fueled wildfire activity and pushed major rivers such as the Rhine and Danube to extremely low levels in August, severely disrupting shipping traffic.

The impacts of climate change have extended beyond temperature to water resources, ecosystems and economic activity.

"Rising air temperature is only part of the story, so the oceans are also [at] exceptionally high levels. And global ocean heat content has reached record levels which impact sea level rise. Glaciers continue to lose mass, and sea ice remains at historically low levels," Burgess said.

Looking ahead, Burgess warned that the current El Nino phenomenon could push global temperatures even higher.

"2026 is already on track to be within the top three warmest years. The biggest impact of El Nino on global temperatures is the year after the event has peaked. So 2027 is likely to be a record-breaking year," she said.

Europe becomes fastest-warming continent on Earth: climate change expert

Europe becomes fastest-warming continent on Earth: climate change expert

Coke options officially began trading on the Dalian Commodity Exchange on Wednesday, making complete a full derivatives toolkit for the three core steelmaking raw materials -- iron ore, coking coal and coke.

Trading began at 09:00 Wednesday with 328 contracts based on 10 coke futures contracts, including J2611, J2612 and J2701. These cover different delivery months, and trading was active from the start.

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of coke, with the annual output exceeding 500 million tons and accounting for more than 67 percent of global production for many years.

Coke futures have been listed since 2011, helping industry participants lock in basic price risks. The introduction of options now offers enterprises a more flexible risk-management tool.

"Options are more like a form of insurance. By paying a relatively small premium, companies can gain the right to choose. If the market moves against them, they can receive compensation. If prices move in their favor, they can simply let the option expire. The maximum loss is limited to the paid premium," said He Bei, trading advisory consultant at the Shanghai East Asia Futures.

Coke sits at the heart of the coal-coke-steel industrial chain, serving as a key raw material for blast-furnace steelmaking. The launch of coke options fills an important gap in risk-management tools on this chain.

"Options tools work together with futures tools to give companies more ways to manage risks. This completes a full black series of derivatives toolkit covering the entire coking coal, coke and iron ore chain," said Hao Weibin, manager at Futures Derivatives Department, the Dalian Commodity Exchange.

China's Dalian commodity exchange officially launches coke options