Europe is burning. This summer, an unprecedented series of heatwaves has swept through the continent and across many parts of the globe. The consequences have been nothing short of catastrophic. In recent weeks deadly blazes have torn through France, Greece and Spain, killing firefighters, forcing people from their homes and robbing them of their livelihoods.

With Tuesday marking Britain’s 34th day of temperatures exceeding 30C (86F) this year, the UK has also found itself reckoning with ferocious heat. Wildfires have forced evacuations in Suffolk and the Cairngorms. In London – where parks have become burnt, brittle and brown – hundreds of grass fires have put our firefighters under pressure like never before. In July, the weather station at Kew Gardens recorded its first ever month without rain since it started operating in 1871. As rivers run dry and reservoirs run low, farmers are warning of food shortages amid the deepening drought. With thousands of deaths already estimated to be linked to the extreme heat we saw in May and June alone, it’s likely this figure will climb higher still.

The terrifying scenes we’ve seen so far this summer are the latest part of a pernicious long-term pattern. This is the third drought London has experienced in the past five years. Across the world, the past 11 years have been the 11 hottest ever recorded – and with a super strength El Niño forming in the Pacific which could pour yet more fuel on the fire, that trend is all but certain to continue. The climate emergency is here – and no one can say they didn’t see it coming.

When I was first........

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