Europe is dealing with its second big heat wave of 2026, and it’s already broken some grim records. France recorded its hottest day ever, with temperatures above 44°C in some spots. Around 40 people have drowned in local water bodies, likely trying to escape the heat, and thousands more are without power.
In the UK, temperatures hit 36°C. Schools shut down, trains were delayed, and the Met Office issued red alerts for multiple regions. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres didn’t mince words, saying London was “cooking” during the city’s annual Climate Action Week.
Switzerland and Spain have also issued heat warnings to residents.
Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London who leads the World Weather Attribution group, put it bluntly: “There’s a sad inevitability to all of this, with scientists like me trotting out the same quotes year after year. Simply put, we remain on a one-way trip towards a more dangerous future, and it’s time we hit the brakes.”
The planet is on track to exceed 1.5°C of human-induced warming. Climate scientists say heat waves will keep getting hotter and more frequent until we reach net zero. Even if the EU hits its 2050 net-zero target, that’s still another quarter-century of greenhouse gas emissions.
Emma Howard Boyd, who chairs the UK’s National Heat Risk Commission, pointed out that the problem isn’t just homes without air conditioning. It’s infrastructure, health systems, and the basic reality that much of Europe was simply not built for this kind of heat.
