Scorching heatwaves and new records intensify alarm over climate change
Punishing heat across Europe and beyond, part of a run of exceptionally warm years, renewed warnings from scientists about a warming planet.
Punishing heatwaves gripped large parts of the world through the summer, with Europe enduring record-breaking temperatures that strained power grids, fuelled wildfires and endangered health, in a season that scientists said fit a clear and accelerating pattern of global warming.
Temperatures soared well above 40 degrees Celsius in parts of southern Europe, prompting health alerts, the closure of schools and tourist sites, and emergency measures to protect vulnerable people. Wildfires forced evacuations in several countries, and warm seas and dry conditions added to the risks.
Climate scientists said the extreme heat was consistent with a long-term trend, with recent years ranking among the hottest ever reliably recorded. The accumulation of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, they explained, was loading the dice in favour of more frequent and more intense heat extremes.
The heat revived debate over how quickly societies were adapting, and how far they were cutting the emissions driving the change. Researchers pointed to the need for better early-warning systems, cooler and greener cities, and protections for outdoor workers and the elderly, even as they stressed that adaptation alone could not keep pace without deep cuts in emissions.
For many communities, the summer was a visceral reminder that climate change was not a distant threat but a present reality, reshaping daily life and testing the resilience of infrastructure built for a cooler world.