Europe must spend more upfront to protect itself from increasingly severe climate disasters, European Union Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told Euronews, arguing that paying for fires, floods and other damage after they strike will ultimately cost far more.
"All evidence shows that making the upfront investments is way cheaper than just being hit by fire, being hit by floods and then paying for the damage. That's just way more costly," Hoekstra said.
Describing the summer as “dramatic”, the Dutch Commissioner said the EU was better prepared than last year, with more firefighters, planes and helicopters deployed, but that the scale of destruction had barely improved.
Around an area twice the size of Luxembourg was lost to fires, while estimates of the economic damage range from €50 billion to €70 billion or more. Spain and France lost thousands of hectares to the blazes and at least 14 first responders lost their lives combating the flames.
The Commissioner rejected the idea that the EU can attach a single figure to climate resilience. Instead, he called for a more fundamental overhaul of how infrastructure is built, with bridges, for example, rebuilt to withstand the next flood rather than simply replacing what was lost.
