European Greens Call for Emergency EU Summit on Climate and Heatwave

BRUSSELS — EU leaders should gather for an emergency summit to strengthen protections against extreme heat and reinforce the bloc's climate efforts, said the European Green Party on Thursday.

Western Europe is suffering under a record-breaking heat wave this week, with temperatures in many countries inching close to or even exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.

Nighttime temperatures are also extraordinarily high, posing significant risks to human health. The heat wave is forecast to move east toward Poland over the weekend.

Scientists agree that climate change is making such heat waves hotter and more frequent. At the same time, the EU has chipped away at its flagship European Green Deal — the package of measures to reduce the bloc's planet-warming emissions to net-zero until 2050 — in a bid to boost economic performance.

The Greens argue that the current heat constitutes an emergency that should prompt EU leaders to convene an extraordinary meeting to discuss strengthening efforts to cut emissions and protect Europeans from climate impacts.

"The state and government leaders must convene in a top-level emergency meeting to urgently strengthen Europe’s climate protections and the Green Deal. History will judge the political choices made today and in the next months," said European Green Party co-chair Vula Tsetsi in an emailed statement.

"This heat wave is rapidly turning into a major European public health crisis," said her co-chair Ciarán Cuffe. "Europe must now choose to double down on policies that protect us from extreme weather."