Europe is ablaze and not just with heat. This summer, Europe endured a heatwave of unprecedented ferocity. From late June into early July, cities across the continent were gripped by temperatures soaring past forty degrees Celsius. In Portugal, June records shattered as the mercury climbed to 46.6 degrees. Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom all recorded record-breaking heat, triggering health alerts, school closures, and even temporary shutdowns of nuclear reactors in Switzerland

The human cost has been heart-rending. Over a mere ten-day span, an estimated 2,300 lives were lost across twelve major European cities, with approximately 1,500 of those fatalities directly attributable to climate change's intensification of the heatwave. Portugal alone reported nearly 300 excess deaths in June, mostly among the elderly. These are not distant tragedies. They are our collective failure to heed warnings.

Severe wildfires swept across Europe, affecting Spain, Greece, Turkey, France, and the........

© The Express Tribune