The new national climate scenarios show what the Netherlands and the Caribbean Netherlands can expect in terms of climate change in the coming decades. Even in the most optimistic scenarios, the climate will continue to change for quite some time, with major consequences for the Netherlands. It gets warmer in all seasons, with more tropical days and fewer frost days. Winter will become wetter, summer will become drier and heavier showers will occur. Sea levels continue to rise.
We are already seeing the consequences of climate change, worldwide and also in the Netherlands, with major consequences for people and nature. In the new KNMI'23 climate scenarios, the KNMI shows that it will make a major difference for further climate change how many greenhouse gases we will continue to emit. The higher the emissions, the greater the warming and the more extreme the weather. Moreover, with every ton of emissions, the chance of unpredictable consequences increases.
KNMI chief director Maarten van Aalst:
Everyone notices it: our climate is changing. It is warmer and the weather is becoming more extreme. Everyone saw how severe weather extremes hit countries around the world last summer. The Netherlands must also prepare for increasingly severe weather conditions. Better and earlier warnings are therefore becoming increasingly important. For the weather of the coming hours and days, but also for how the climate will continue to change.
