_shutterstock_ataurrahmanstudio__xlarge.jpg "Europe is baking – and burning")
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Europe is baking – and burning
Europeans are once again facing two all-too-familiar summer scourges: deadly heatwaves and devastating wildfires.
Large areas of Europe have already experienced two heatwaves this season - and further temperature spikes are expected.
The heat is back
The combination of climate change and an intensifying El Niño phenomenon is driving up average land and sea temperatures, resulting in hot spells reaching unprecedented levels. The World Meteorological Organisation reported that the June 2026 heatwave broke temperature records across Europe, including at night.
Hans-Peter Hutter, an environmental doctor, gives our Austrian colleagues at Agora tips on how to combat the heat.
Hans-Peter Hutter, Environmental doctor (in German):
“It’s about making sure, when you’re at home, that as little heat as possible gets in. That you make do at home with passive cooling measures and fans, using your own cooling methods, and see if you can manage that way. If you go out, or if your flat is simply too hot, then it’s important to know where there’s a cool place nearby. I’ve always thought it was great – ever since the 2003 heatwave – that two places have always been mentioned. These are our churches – churches across Europe in general – where, thanks to their architecture, it tends to be cooler in most of them. And the second – and this was also interesting – was a recommendation from France: ‘There you go, head to supermarkets or shopping centres, as they’re air-conditioned too.”
Public authorities across the bloc are implementing heat-health action plans that include climate cooling centres and climate shelters and monitoring schemes for elderly and vulnerable residents. In certain regions, such as in Italy, outdoor work is restricted during the hottest part of the day. However, while the continent has experienced the highest number of premature deaths caused by extreme heat worldwide - with 200,000 dying from heat in the past four years, according to WHO figures - air conditioning is a real lifeline for many of the most vulnerable.
This is why there is growing support across Europe for measures to make air-conditioning more affordable. In Portugal, for example, public health doctors are advocating a return to the 6 per cent VAT rate - down from 23 per cent - for air conditioning unit purchases. Here’s Bernardo Gomes, the president of the Association of Portugal’s public health doctors, in an interview with our colleagues at Renascença.
Bernardo Gomes, President of the Association of Public Health Doctors (in Portuguese):
“This is going to become our reality more often than we would like. If we are to avoid relying so heavily on stopgap solutions for circumstances that are no longer extraordinary, we must also provide incentives to ensure that the conditions are in place to enable people to improve their resilience in their circumstances. Air conditioning saves lives.”
In fact, if, by 2050, no further adaptation is set in action, this could rise to 120,000 heat-related deaths every year in Europe, alerts the WHO. The health organisation also warned Europe of more deadly weeks to come, with the next heatwave already building over the Atlantic.
However, air conditioners and other electrical appliances place extra strain on the electricity systems during heatwaves, because they are all running at the same time.
For example, in the Silistra region of Bulgaria, such power surges put a strain on domestic electrical installations, leading to an increase in house fires at this time of year, as Svetoslav Stoychev, head of the region’s prevention and control department, explained on Bulgarian National Radio.
Svetoslav Stoychev, Chief Inspector, Head of the Prevention and Control Division of the Silistra region (in Bulgarian)
“I would say that a large part of the homes with electrical installations, which are designed for smaller loads, are also the reason for this high number of short circuits. […] And at some point the old electrical installation cannot support the necessary load, resulting in an overload, and often leading to fires.”
This strain is also affecting electricity grids as a whole, at a time when many cables and infrastructure are overheating. When the heatwave hit Europe in 2025, daily electricity demand soared by up to 14 per cent in Spain, according to energy think tank Ember.
So, aircon or no aircon? The discussion has actually sparked a real controversy, with criticisms regarding the lack of air conditioning in Europe. The debate even reached Brussels last week (29 June) when the question was put to the Commission spokesperson… our colleague at AMS shares her response.
Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, Spokesperson of the European Commission (in English) 1:
“Regarding air conditioning units, in private households, these are issues where the Commission is not micromanaging how people should be going about this.”
She adds that her institution is examining this issue within the broader context of its housing strategy, and a soon-to-be electrification plan.
Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, Spokesperson of the European Commission (in English) 2 :
“We have the Electrification Action Plan coming in a few weeks, so that is something that will look into the barriers and different targeted measures to electrify the heating and cooling system. Because obviously a question we also need to ask, for air conditioning: how is the electricity produced? Where does it come from?”
This much-anticipated paper, expected to be tabled on 17 July, aims to accelerate the decarbonisation of energy consumption in EU buildings. This includes heating, and cooling – so, also air conditioning! It will be paired with investment in clean electricity generation and grid flexibility.
https://www.euranetplus.de/2026/06/30/hitze-und-die-frage-was-ist-mit-klimaanlagen/
The fire is back
Meanwhile, forest fires have also returned and, here too, they grow longer and more destructive. However, since many wildfires are started by humans, should they actually be connected to climate change? Euranet Plus fact-checker Linda Givetash has investigated the issue.
Linda Givetash, Euranet Plus Fact-Checker (in English):
“Scientists distinguish between ignition and spread. While many fires are started by humans, whether through negligence or arson, it is extreme heat, drought and strong winds that create the conditions that allow fires to spread faster, burn more intensely and become much more destructive.”
This is indeed the fear of Grégory Allione, a French MEP and professional firefighter, in an interview with euradio.
Grégory Allione, Member of the European Parliament – Renew/France (in French):
“When France is hit by this heatwave, so too are the countries of the Mediterranean basin. But it’s not just here, I would say, it’s in places such as Strasbourg, where it is currently very hot. And what we fear, ultimately, is that areas extending far beyond the Mediterranean arc could be affected by catastrophic forest fires this summer.”
Now faced with their first major forest fires of the season, which have already burned several thousand hectares amid a heatwave, France and Portugal activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism at the end of last week. AMS tuned in to the European Commission’s midday briefing on Monday.
Eva Hrncirova, European Commission Spokesperson (in English):
“For Portugal, firefighters and vehicles were on the ground arriving from Spain within hours. And a day later, RESC-EU firefighting planes arrived from Italy and Spain. And to help France, we have mobilized four planes from our RESC-EU fleet. […] This summer, we are prepositioning a record number of firefighters—777 firefighters—and our 22 planes and 5 helicopters stand ready to help whenever needed.”
Due to the increase in wildfires, in particular last year, Brussels has developed a new strategy for tackling forest fires, to make the EU more prepared and quicker to respond and recover, as well as a plan for summer 2026 that will see a record number of firefighters sent to southern Europe.
https://www.euranetplus.de/2026/07/07/es-brennt-in-suedeuropa/
Renew MEP Grégory Allione welcomes the initiative.
Grégory Allione, Member of the European Parliament – Renew/France (in French):
“I commend the work of Commissioner Hadja Labib, who, just last June – or rather, at the very beginning of June – finally made it possible to launch this European strategy to combat forest fires, involving the pre-positioning of aerial resources and the pre-positioning of firefighters […]. This is a genuine example of solidarity as understood in the world of civil protection, meaning that we all prepare in advance to deal with challenging situations.”
And, despite the bleak circumstances, he can see glimmers of hope.
Grégory Allione, Member of the European Parliament – Renew/France (in French):
“We have an interesting system that covers everything to do with detection and mapping, thanks to Copernicus. […] With innovation spanning satellite technology, drones and water-dropping aircraft, we have a vast array of resources at our disposal. Deploying these resources, such as in the event of major disasters, is not something a single state can achieve alone.”
The lobby is back
Things won’t look up anytime soon, warns Gerhard Hohenwarter, a meteorologist and climate expert at GeoSphere Austria - quite the contrary, he warns in a conversation with our colleagues at Agora.
Gerhard Hohenwarter, Meteorologist and climate expert at GeoSphere Austria (in German):
“At the moment, we are seeing only a very slow decline in global CO₂ emissions. This means we are continuing to emit huge quantities of CO₂, and as this greenhouse gas remains trapped in the atmosphere for a very long time, we cannot expect the climate to stabilise any time soon. This means that over the next 10, 20, 30 years, we can expect further warming, and everything will then depend on how quickly we, as a society as a whole, respond and transform our entire system – moving away from fossil fuels, overproduction and so on. So that, ideally, we will also emit no more CO2, no greenhouse gases at all, and will even be able to reduce or eliminate them.”
In light of these facts, our colleagues at Luxembourg radio station 100.7 wonder why certain European industries economy are still trying to weaken the EU’s climate targets. Indeed, while European environment ministers were meeting in the heavily air-conditioned conference centre in Kirchberg, Luxembourg, in the midst of a heatwave at the end of June, certain countries – led by Germany – were still fighting to relax the existing rules on CO₂ emissions from cars by 2035.
Luxembourg is one of the countries strongly opposing the revision of these rules, alongside Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Environment minister Serge Wilmes says Luxembourg will hold on to the already agreed targets.
Serge Wilmes, Environment Minister of Luxembourg (in Luxembourgish):
“The heated atmosphere was palpable even in the air-conditioned room, as several countries pointed out that the European Union must under no circumstances call into question or water down its climate targets – not even through the Commission’s new proposal on CO₂ emissions and the targets for CO₂ neutrality in the passenger car sector. We should not lower our ambitions here!”
The disinformation is back
Twenty-three of the 30 most intense heatwaves in Europe since 1950 have occurred since 2000, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Human-induced climate change is unequivocally responsible for the heatwave’s intensity, as temperatures of this magnitude would have been virtually impossible 50 years ago, says World Weather Attribution.
Still, disinformation thrives here, as Linda Givetash explains.
Linda Givetash, Euranet Plus Fact-Checker (in English): 2
“Most of the claims do not deny that heatwaves occur. Instead, they seek to play down their significance or cast doubt on their causes. Common examples include: "Heatwaves have always happened, so nothing is unusual", "weather stations or temperature records are manipulated."; "the media exaggerate heat using red weather maps"; "scientists are inventing a climate emergency for funding or political purposes…" Many of these claims use real historical events or isolated data points, but they remove these from their broader scientific context. And one common way of spreading disinformation is to use real data to support a biased interpretation of what it means.”
Given the increasingly strong evidence of climate change, it is not surprising that the spread of disinformation is now aimed less at denying climate science itself than at opposing climate policies. However, the rhetoric varies from country to country, as Givetash points out.
Linda Givetash, Euranet Plus Fact-Checker (in English): 3
“While many narratives spread across borders, some are more prevalent in certain countries. In Italy, for instance, conspiracy theories focus on allegations of geoengineering carried out by NATO and HAARP, 'chemtrails', and the manipulation of weather stations. There are also claims that heatwave warnings are intended to advance the European Green Deal. In Germany, too, people are more likely to tie narratives to politics, energy policy and distrust of institutions, like opposition to the Green Deal, rather than buying into conspiracies about weather manipulation. In countries prone to wildfires, like Greece and Spain, the focus of disinformation is more on disasters. Conspiracy theories claim that forests are deliberately set alight to make way for wind turbines, and assert that forest fires are started by humans — particularly migrants — and are not related to climate change.”
And who is behind this disinformation?
Linda Givetash, Euranet Plus Fact-Checker (in English): 4
“Researchers are saying there's no single source, as usual, but we've got our usual suspects on the list. According to the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), the climate disinformation ecosystem includes fossil fuel companies, partisan think tanks, politicians, influencers, advertisers, online platforms and search engines. State actors, such as Russia and the US, are also involved. And social media is the main channel through which climate disinformation spreads. Researchers say platforms often amplify sensational or misleading content during extreme weather events, when people are actively seeking information.”