Damià Gomis, physicist at the UIB: "The Balearic Islands are already suffering from climate change and the current energy transition is insufficient"

PalmDr. Damià Gomis, a physicist and professor of Earth Physics at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), warned this Thursday that the effects of climate change are already visible in the Balearic Islands and will continue to intensify until the end of the century if decisive measures are not taken to curb them. He made this statement at a conference organized by the Climate Academy, where he detailed the trends showing the direction in which the archipelago's climate is evolving. Gomis, director of the UIB's Interdisciplinary Laboratory on Climate Change, noted that the global temperature has increased by 1.20°C between the pre-industrial period and the decade of 2014-2023, but by 2024 the increase will reach 1.55°C. One of the direct effects of this warming is the rise in sea level, which has been increasing by an average of 3 millimeters per year since 2000. In the Balearic Islands – as in the rest of the Mediterranean – the temperature increase is even faster than the global average. One of the distinctive features of warming in the region, he explained, is the premature arrival of summer conditions due to a significant warming of spring. Since winters are changing less, the transition between seasons is becoming increasingly abrupt. This increase also implies another worrying phenomenon: the rise in heat waves, which are more frequent, longer lasting, and more intense, with a potentially very serious impact on human health. Regarding the sea, Gomis emphasized that in 2024 the average surface temperature of the Mediterranean exceeded 28°C for the first time since records began. In 2025, the global average was slightly lower, but in specific areas the situation was critical. As of June 30, 2025, the average surface temperature of the Balearic Sea was 27.4°C – 4.6°C above normal – and reached 30.5°C in southwest Mallorca, at the Dragonera buoy, during a marine heatwave that lasted for two weeks.

Transport, the main source of emissions in the Islands

Regarding greenhouse gas emissions, Gomis explained that in the Balearic Islands, the main culprits are land, sea, and air transport. However, emissions from electricity generation have decreased thanks to the shift from coal to natural gas, increased electricity imports from the mainland, and the expansion of self-consumption and photovoltaic parks. In this context, mitigation strategies, according to the professor, involve accelerating the electrification of transport, reducing dependence on air travel, increasing renewable energy generation, improving energy efficiency, and decreasing overall energy demand. "We must go beyond the current energy transition."

Despite the progress, Gomis warns that the planned energy transition has "both positive and negative aspects" and will be insufficient if the underlying economic model is not transformed. He has proposed abandoning the current linear model, based on the constant extraction and consumption of resources, and evolving towards a "spiral economy." He explains that the concept of a 'circular economy' can be misleading, because not all materials are indefinitely recyclable, but their useful life can be significantly extended through reuse. This change of course would also imply questioning the current socioeconomic model and the indicators used to measure it. Indicators such as GDP or the number of cars per capita, he stated, do not truly reflect quality of life. For Gomis, society must accept the planet's ecological limits and redefine the relationship between humanity and the environment to guarantee long-term sustainability.