A deadly heatwave is tightening its grip on Western Europe, with no relief in sight before the weekend. France has recorded 40 drowning deaths in a single week, most of them young people. The continent is warming faster than any other on Earth, and economists warn the damage from extreme weather could reach €126bn by 2029.
In Paris, people jumped into the Canal Saint-Martin to cool down. The Louvre closed early. The Eiffel Tower cut its hours. This week, the southwestern town of Pissos recorded 44.3°C, the highest temperature ever measured in France. Paris itself hit 40.9°C, a June record for the capital. “They are the first victims of the crisis we are facing,” Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said after a crisis meeting, as the drowning toll climbed. Forty people have died in France since last week, most of them young, seeking relief in rivers and lakes. It may not be over soon: data suggest this could become the longest consecutive heatwave ever recorded in parts of Europe.
The heatwave is the second major episode of extreme heat to hit Europe in two months. It is being driven by a weather pattern known as an omega block: a bulge of warm, high pressure trapped between two cooler low-pressure systems, drawing heat directly from the Sahara. Under normal conditions, the jet stream carries weather steadily west to east. During an omega block, that flow buckles and locks hot air over the same area for days, sometimes weeks. Vienna expects 39°C this weekend. The Netherlands has issued its highest heat warning level since the scale was introduced in 1991.
The bill is already rising
None of this is happening in isolation. A study published in the European Economic Review, led by Dr Sehrish Usman of the University of Mannheim with economists from the European Central Bank, estimates that extreme weather cost the EU at least €43bn in 2025 alone, with cumulative damage reaching €126bn by 2029. The figures are likely an undercount: wildfires, hail and storms were excluded from the analysis. Two years after a heatwave, regional GDP is on average 1.5 percentage points lower than it would otherwise have been.
“In the 50 years since the historic heatwave in 1976, Europe as a whole has warmed by around two degrees,” said John Kennedy, head of climate information at the World Meteorological Organization. Scientists at Imperial College London estimate that European heatwaves today run 2 to 4 degrees hotter than they would have without human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Only about 20 per cent of European homes have air conditioning. In many northern countries, buildings were historically designed to retain heat rather than dissipate it. When an omega block arrives now, it arrives on a warmer baseline. The heat is more intense. The damage more costly.
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A separate study, published in Nature Medicine by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, estimated that heat killed more than 47,000 people across Europe in 2023 alone. The same research found that without the adaptation measures put in place over the past two decades, including early warning systems, urban cooling infrastructure and public health campaigns, the death toll would have been 80 per cent higher. In 2022, the figure exceeded 60,000.
Copernicus, the EU’s climate monitoring service, confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record in Europe, and that the continent logged its second-highest ever number of heat stress days. It was also the tenth consecutive year of record-breaking annual temperatures globally. The data point to a trend, not an anomaly.
Adapting on the fly
Across Europe, companies and cities are scrambling to cope. In Germany, logistics giant DHL has equipped its 111,000 postal workers with cool boxes containing reusable cooling towels and UV-protective neck guards. Thyssenkrupp Steel, the continent’s second-largest steelmaker, hands out extra water and fruit at its blast furnaces, where temperatures can top 45°C even without a heatwave. Construction firms have shifted start times to early morning to avoid the hottest hours. In France, farm cooperatives are organising night shifts to bring in the harvest after authorities banned afternoon field work because of wildfire risk. France’s nuclear power plants cut output by about 7 per cent of total demand as high temperatures limited access to cooling water.
We take the risks of high temperatures at work very seriously. This is an integral part of workers’ rights and a healthy, safe work environment.
— Eva Hrnčířová, European Commission spokeswoman
Madrid has expanded its network of “climate shelters” for vulnerable residents. Across the continent, people are running air conditioning through the night, paying bills they never budgeted for. British electrical retailer Currys reported fan sales up nearly 3,000 per cent compared with the previous weekend.
Europe has no unified rules governing work in extreme heat, with national regulations varying widely. The European Trade Union Confederation has called on the Commission to introduce mandatory EU-level cooling breaks for workers. The Commission’s response has been cautious. “We take the risks of high temperatures at work very seriously,” said spokeswoman Eva Hrnčířová at Thursday’s midday briefing. “There is a workplace directive. It’s going through the revision.” For now, the EU’s occupational safety agency issues only recommendations, and enforcement of any measures stays with member states.
