Here's how climate change drives these events. FINGERPRINTS OF CLIMATE CHANGETo find out exactly how much climate change affected a specific heatwave, scientists conduct "attribution studies". CLIMATE CHANGE DRIVES WILDFIRESClimate change increases hot and dry conditions that help fires spread faster, burn longer and rage more intensely. The study found that human-induced climate change played an absolutely overwhelming role in the extreme heatwaves that swept across North America, Europe and China in July. But scientists concur that without steep cuts to the greenhouse gases causing climate change, heatwaves, wildfires, flooding and drought will significantly worsen.

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Persons: Alexandros Avramidis, Friederike Otto, Sonia Seneviratne, Seneviratne, Rhodes, Copernicus, Mark Parrington, Victor Resco de, Kate Abnett, Gloria Dickie, Katy Daigle, Barbara Lewis, Josie Kao, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Firefighters, REUTERS, Rights, United Nations, Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, Union, Spain's Lleida University, Thomson Locations: Sesklo, Greece, Europe, Spain, France, Netherlands, Paris, North America, China, Victor Resco de Dios