Europe suffocates under high heat and fires

From one end of Europe to the other, the fires are multiplying, Wednesday July 20, and the temperatures are high. Near Athens (Greece), houses are burning. In the suburbs of London (United Kingdom) as in Catalonia (Spain), they are already calcined. Fires in Europe have never been so important as during the summer of 2022. Even places usually preserved are affected. In the United Kingdom, firefighters in London experienced Tuesday, July 19, the busiest day since the Second World War, according to the mayor.

“Climate change is already here. We won’t be able to go back. But the question is to know what level of temperature rise will be, and therefore how violently we will take the impacts in the face”, comments François Gemenne, member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In Spain, the most recent heat wave lasted ten days, with up to 45°C recorded, and a heavy human toll. The UN calls on leaders to be aware of heat waves.