Specially commissioned for the Hague climate talks, a report on the possible effects of global warming on Europe from the Jackson Environment Institute included many dire predictions. Amongst these were suggestions that:

• the Mediterranean will lose many of its beaches. The Alps will lose their glaciers and much of their snow

• hot summers will double in frequency (in Spain they will increase fivefold) by 2020, causing many deaths in more vulnerable people

• the ability to cultivate some agricultural crops will move an average 30 miles north each decade, (Ed.- possibly leading to huge shifts in economic power. The US, for instance, could see its ability to grow wheat for export disappear whilst currently-frozen Siberia becomes a major wheat exporter.)

• many species of fish and coastal birds will become extinct

• there will be insufficient water in southern Europe to grow sufficient levels of crops for supermarkets in northern Europe

On the plus side, colder winters will be half as frequent by 2020 and eventually disappear altogether except in the far north of Europe, resulting in less pollution and lower heating bills. Sadly, even this has a downside: more insects bearing diseases.

Ed.- The report's overall message is that these effects of global warming are now unavoidable, and that all European countries can now do is to prepare for the changes to come whilst simultaneously acting to reduce the severity and duration of the warming. Friends of the Earth campaigns director Tony Juniper commented "The longer Governments delay what must be the inevitable transition to a renewable energy economy, the worse the consequences will be".