More frequent, more extreme and more deadly heatwaves. That is the picture of a Europe battered by high temperatures which, during June, saw record after record broken on the thermometers.
"We have already had six heatwaves, the same as the total for last year. And we are only in July. On top of that, the intensity – in other words, the difference in temperatures compared with what is normal – is greater," Francisco Ferreira, president of the environmental association Zero, told Euronews.
Faced with a problem that experts attribute to greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting climate change, environmental organisations say it is urgent to find solutions that not only seek to mitigate the cause, but also help the population adapt to a scenario that is only going to get worse.
"It is inevitable that we have to look not only at cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which we call mitigation, but also, of course, at adaptation," explains Francisco Ferreira.
"It is crucial that we build and develop cities that are prepared for this, with the capacity to adapt. That basically means taking a very close look at the building stock, which in many cases reflects situations of energy poverty, where we cannot keep homes warm in winter, but we also cannot keep them cool in summer."
