Klima: EU-Kommission will Europa besser auf Klimafolgen vorbereiten
Zehntausende Hitzetote, Hunderttausende verbrannte Hektar: Das ist die Bilanz des heißesten Sommers aller Zeiten in Westeuropa. Die EU-Kommission will den Kontinent für die Zukunft besser wappnen.
Brussels - The European Commission plans to better prepare Europe for the effects of climate change, including droughts, floods, wildfires, and heatwaves. On Tuesday, the Brussels authority unveiled a new strategy on how to better handle challenges such as heat. In September, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had announced a societal approach to the issue, extending to the local level.
She noted that it was the hottest summer months ever recorded, but possibly the coolest of the coming years. According to EU Copernicus data, the summer was the warmest for Western Europe since records began. By September 2nd, the area burned in the EU was nearly twice as large as the average from 2006 to 2025. British scientists estimate that heat in European cities cost around 50,000 lives in 2022, more than any previous year.
In Germany, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) estimated that around 16,000 people died due to heat by the end of the summer, significantly more than in previous years.
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