Storm Éowyn may not have been caused by climate change, but it is still a warning

However, whether or not there is a causal link on this occasion, the passage of time has demonstrated the accuracy of climate scientists’ warnings that rising levels of greenhouse gases are causing global temperatures to increase and that this is resulting in more extreme weather.

As Nasa says, “record-breaking heat waves on land and in the ocean, drenching rains, severe floods, years-long droughts, extreme wildfires, and widespread flooding during hurricanes are all becoming more frequent and more intense”.

Rising extremes, rising costs

The Met Office has produced maps of the world showing where weather extremes are increasing. The vast majority of land on Earth has seen more extremes of heat and longer wildfire seasons. Places where droughts and extreme rainfall have been getting worse are not as widespread but vast areas are still affected.

It would have been better if humanity had reacted more decisively to the warnings sounded by the scientific community in the 1980s, but unfortunately we did not. This means that, in addition to the huge task of decarbonising our economy, we must now rise to another significant challenge: ensuring that vital infrastructure – power supplies, railways, roads, harbours, sea defences, and the like – is able to cope with the new conditions.

More than 100,000 homes in Scotland had lost power because of Storm Éowyn by late yesterday afternoon, and this will come with an economic cost, particularly for companies with staff working from home.

This could boost the case for more power cables to be laid underground, which is expensive but which would also mitigate the concerns of those who worry that Scotland’s ‘renewables gold rush’ is leading to the industrialisation of the countryside as windfarms and pylons spring up.

Such issues highlight a simple fact: the longer we allow global warming to continue, the more expensive it is going to get and the harder it will be to stop it.