The dramatic collapse of a glacier onto the Swiss village of Blatten last week underscores how Europe, as the world’s fastest-warming continent, is becoming an increasingly hazardous place.
On 28 May, the Birch Glacier gave way under the weight of rock and debris from avalanches on the Kleines Nesthorn mountain, burying the village of Blatten in Switzerland’s Valais region. Around 300 residents had been evacuated days earlier, narrowly avoiding disaster.
While the scale of destruction is unprecedented for the Swiss Alps, it is part of a worrying trend. In April 2024, a similar collapse at Piz Scerscen near the Italian border unleashed comparable volumes of debris, though with less damage. In 2022, the collapse of the Marmolada glacier in Italy claimed 11 lives.
“Several sites in the European Alps are under active observation as a potential instability is possible,” said Michael Huss, visiting scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). He told Euractiv that the increasing frequency of such major events “seems to indicate that we will have to deal with more” in the future.
“Such a mountain and glacier collapse cannot happen only because of climatic factors,” Huss said. “A long-term geological preconditioning is necessary.”
While not yet conclusively proven, researchers say that rising temperatures likely played a significant role by thawing subsoil, triggering rockfalls, and accelerating the glacier’s advance. Huss pointed to warming permafrost and retreating glaciers as key destabilising forces.
“This leads to a general destabilisation of material at high elevation [and] therefore likely importantly contributed to the present event,” he said.
Although he stressed that events like the one in Blatten remain rare and “exceptional,” Huss warned that the risks are rising. “The situation is not worsening faster than we thought,” he added, “but awareness and preparedness are now essential” – particularly for those who live and work in the Alps.
Europe not ready
Last year, the European Environment Agency warned that Europe is warming faster than any other continent – and is unprepared for the growing climatic risks. Melting glaciers are far from a localised concern.
A recent study in Science estimates that, even if countries meet the Paris Agreement target of limiting warming to 1.5°C, glaciers worldwide will lose about 47% of their mass over the coming centuries. Current climate pledges suggest, however, that the world is on track for 2.7°C of warming – unless leaders significantly increase their ambition at the COP30 summit in Brazil later this year.
The European Commission is expected to present a proposal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 on 2 July, and has been urging member states to prepare for what is already considered inevitable.
“In the recent Commission’s assessment of the final National Energy and Climate Plans, we have underlined that progress in addressing climate resilience and adaptation is uneven,” a European Commission spokesperson told Euractiv.
Scaling up these efforts is “paramount,” the official said, adding that a European Climate Adaptation Plan is expected in 2026 to “support member states in preparedness and planning and ensure regular science-based risk assessments”.
(rh, de)