Siberian heatwave was ‘impossible’ without human-made climate change

By Adam Vaughan

Wildfires across Siberia are one consequence of the heatwave there

Yevgeny Sofroneyev/TASS via Getty Images

The record-breaking heatwave that has baked Siberia for the past six months was made at least 600 times more likely because of climate change, which researchers say mean it is “effectively impossible” for it to have occurred without the warming driven by human activities.

Temperatures in the region have been around 8°C above average since the start of the year, triggering wildfires that released record amounts of carbon dioxide in June and a permafrost thaw that contributed to one of Russia’s worst ever oil …