A WWF report says that there's greater risk of severe storms and extreme weather in future winters as a result of climate change unless CO2 emissions are reduced.

The report - Stormy Europe - summarizes recent scientific findings on future storm activity across western and central Europe.

The countries included in the analysis are the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Italy.

The report shows that the UK would be worst affected by the deterioration in winter weather conditions, with the number of winter storms by the end of the century increasing by up to 25 per cent per year and top wind speeds increasing by 8-16 per cent.

The global conservation organization says that the worsening winter weather would also be expected to bring with it major damage and financial losses. Each winter storm hitting the UK in the 1980s and 1990s cost between €200m and €2bn.

The Netherlands would see the next largest increase in future storm activity, the WWF added. Top wind speeds are likely to grow by 2-15 per cent. Scientists say that an increase of just 6 per cent could already accelerate average annual damage five-fold, costing the country €100m.

Jennifer Morgan, WWF: "A dangerous wind of change is blowing across Europe."

"A dangerous wind of change is blowing across Europe," said Jennifer Morgan, Director of WWF's Global Climate Change Programme.

"We have to take this threat seriously and stop climate pollution in order to protect people and their properties from devastating storms. If we don’t act soon our last chance will be blown away."

France would see the third largest increase in winter storm activity, with the number of storms growing by up to 10-20 per cent by the end of the century.

Most of the increase would be concentrated over the northern parts of the country, where top wind speeds could increase by up to 16 per cent, and the number of days with extremely high wind speeds could increase by up to 25-50 per cent.

The report notes that the power sector is the world's biggest climate polluter, accounting for a major part of the climate changes and extreme weather experiences now and in the future.

According to the WWF, the global power sector is responsible for 37 per cent of man-made CO2 emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels like coal.

"Right now EU governments have the chance to drastically cut CO2 and clean up the power sector," added Morgan.

"They must strengthen the CO2 limits under the Emissions Trading Scheme, or the storms are going to hit Europe harder than ever before."

The article Global warming 'to cause more storms' originally appeared on 999 Today