‘We Were Warned,’ Says WHO Chief as More Than 1,300+ Dead Across Europe From Climate-Driven Heat Wave

Conor here: Sadly, the number is expected to grow much higher. In the summer of 2022, more than 61,000 Europeans died as a result of the heat, and this year is expected to be worse.

In a piece for Quillette, Maarten Boudry makes the case that Europe needs to get with the air conditioning program. Yet this argument highlights Europe’s bind: high energy costs with supplies and a grid ill equipped for mass AC adoption on the fastest-warming continent.

Any cultural resistance to AC in Europe looks to be melting away in the heat, but aside from how increased use can aggravate the heat island effect and contribute to even more global warming, here’s where Europe’s energy decisions enter the picture. Consider Boudry’s argument:

The harder task is the mental switch: to stop treating energy as something to atone for. Energy is the master resource, the thing that buys us nearly every other good. The whole of human history is the story of harnessing ever more energy to improve our lives and to hold the lethal forces of nature at bay. To despise energy is to bite the hand that feeds you.

The EU executed a geopolitical tour de force in biting the hand that feeds you when it largely cut itself off from Russian gas. That won’t help with any mass adoption of AC, which is challenging due to the strain it places on the grid and power supplies. As Euronews noted last year in what’s becoming an annual occurrence:

Heatwaves don’t just increase demand for electricity; they can also reduce power production from some forms of energy. Several European countries have had to repeatedly reduce electricity production or shut down nuclear reactors due to extreme heat this summer.

If nuclear is down, hydro power is dry, there isn’t much wind blowing during a heatwave, what other options do you have? Here’s the EU energy mix for 2024:

In 2024, the energy mix in the EU, meaning the range of energy sources available, mainly consisted of 5 different sources:

• crude oil and petroleum products (38%)
• natural gas (21%)
• renewable energy (20%)
• nuclear energy (12%)
• solid fuels (10%)

But the EU costs are high. According to the IEA, “Average EU wholesale electricity price remained the highest among the markets analysed in 2025 – roughly twice that of the United States and India, and markedly above levels in Australia (+65%) and Japan (+25%).”

A big reason for that is because of how 57% was imported—and they’re now paying a premium on those top two line items due to hatred of Russia. The US, on the other hand, imported only 17 percent of its 2024 energy supply.

So while Europeans might grouse about Americans running AC to sweater temperatures, it’d be hard for most Europeans to be able to afford to do the same—even if they wanted to.

By Jon Queally, managing editor of Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams. 

The head of the World Health Organization on Sunday said the deadly heat wave now boiling across Europe—which French authorities say caused more than 1,000 deaths last week alone—is the predicted and horrifying result that climate scientists and human rights advocates have been warning about for decades.

In a social post Sunday, WHO secretary-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Driven by climate change and global warming, the phenomenon of the ‘once-in-a-generation’ heatwave is now occurring nearly annual. We were warned.”

Citing over 1,300 excess deaths across Europe in the last week—as temperatures broke records in nation after nation—Tedros added that “heat stress is often called the ‘silent killer’—and European homes, workplaces and schools were not built for these temperatures.”

“Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, heating at twice the global average,” he said. “Right now 150 million people are living under extreme heat, hundreds have died, schools are shut, grids are buckling.”

According to the Associated Press:

Germany marked a new record for the third day in a row with 41.7 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) in Neißemünde, near the border with Poland. The Czech Republic also experienced its hottest day ever with 41.1 C (106.4 F).

A new study from the World Weather Attribution, a Europe-based collaboration of scientists, reported Friday that the record-breaking heat and humidity in Europe this past week would not have been possible without climate change.

The rapid study found that the heat would have been virtually impossible just five decades ago, and is 200 times more likely today than it would have been 20 years ago.

On Sunday, authorities in France said over 1,000 excess deaths attributable to the heat were recorded last week, with at least 100 or more over the previous 24 hours.

Just when you think you’ll get a break from this intense heat, a 3rd major heatwave is on the way & forecasts suggest it may be even worse. #Spain could see temps of 46°C, #France 45°C & the #UK near 40°C again. This is the new climate & one we are dangerously underprepared for. pic.twitter.com/8MvXUjnbO7

— Peter Dynes (@PGDynes) June 28, 2026

The threat of extreme heat related to the climate crisis is not only in Europe.

In 2024, a peer-reviewed study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that heat-related deaths in the United States rose 117% between 1999 and 2023.

Last year, a joint analysis by The Guardian and Pro Publica estimated that the industry-friendly policies of US President Donald Trump could result in the otherwise preventable deaths of 1.3 million people worldwide over the next 80 years, most of them among poor people in nations that did very little to cause the planetary crisis driven by the consumption of fossil fuels.

In a comment last week, as the deadly heatwave made international headlines, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was among those who pointed his finger directly at Trump for his vicious policies related to energy and climate.

“There is a record-breaking heat wave in Europe and hundreds are dying,” said Sanders. “There is drought all across America and farmers are going out of business. Yet, Trump thinks climate change is a ‘hoax’ and cuts funding for sustainable energy. Insane. He is threatening the very future of our planet.”

On Friday, the climate group 350.org said the polluting companies, namely those in the coal, oil, and gas industry, should be made to pay for the deaths and damage they have caused and continue to cause.

“It’s time to turn the heat on the fossil fuel giants that caused this heatwave but are doing nothing to cover the costs,” said Lisa Rose, a campaigner with the group. “Both science and the law are clear: polluters must answer for climate damage. Now it’s up to our leaders to make them pay.”

“Forcing fossil fuel companies to cut emissions and pay their fair share is the only effective lasting response,” she added. “Half-measures won’t cool this crisis, only a faster shift to renewables can.”