{"id":461523,"date":"2026-07-31T10:44:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T08:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/07\/31\/caldo-i-verdi-europei-insistono-convocare-un-vertice-demergenza\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T11:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T09:33:18","slug":"heatwave-european-greens-press-on-urge-emergency-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/07\/31\/heatwave-european-greens-press-on-urge-emergency-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"Heatwave: European Greens press on, urge emergency summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The Greens are pressing ahead on the heatwave issue and are asking to \u201ccall an emergency European summit on heatwaves and agree on concrete measures to make Europe resilient.\u201d Following the request to environment ministers, <\/a> for which they received no response, the group\u2019s co-chair, Terry Reintke, <\/strong>urged more significant EU action. In a letter<\/a> sent yesterday (30 July) to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong>, the President of the European Council, Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/strong>, and the European Commissioner for Crisis Preparedness, Hadja Lahbib, <\/strong>Reintke urged the three to prepare \u201ca coordinated European response that protects people\u201d before the extreme heat becomes \u201can emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Europe is facing another summer of extreme heat, with heatwaves, wildfires and droughts affecting communities across the continent,” Reintke reiterated, noting that “what was once considered an exceptional event is becoming a recurring reality for millions of Europeans.” <\/strong>The MEP stressed that Europe is the region warming fastest in the world, affecting \u201cthe way people live, work and stay healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

 In particular, \u201cthe human cost is already severe.\u201d According to estimates provided by the German organisation, heatwaves kill \u201c48,000 people every year in Europe.\u201d Furthermore, \u201c75 per cent of European buildings remain energy-inefficient, with 26 per cent of households in the EU unable to keep their homes cool in summer.\u201d Among those most affected are people on low incomes, those living in poorly insulated homes, older people, children, and people whose health is already at risk. <\/p>\n

Her group has therefore drawn up a list of priorities requiring urgent action.<\/strong> First and foremost, \u201cmaking public buildings safe in the event of extreme heat.\u201d<\/strong> This means equipping schools, hospitals, and care homes with shaded areas, ventilation, and energy-efficient cooling systems. Next, \u201cprotecting workers\u201d<\/strong> by establishing minimum standards at the European level to enable people to work during the hottest periods of the year, in particular by providing water, breaks, and appropriate working hours. The third priority is \u201ckeeping homes cool and accessible,\u201d<\/strong> prioritising vulnerable households, making homes heat-resilient and ensuring access to efficient cooling systems. <\/p>\n

On the subject of cooling, the Greens add to the list \u201ccooling our cities,\u201d<\/strong> a measure that can only be achieved by planting more trees, creating shaded areas in public spaces, and providing more water. Next, \u201charnessing solar energy\u201d<\/strong> by installing solar panels on the roofs of public buildings, and \u201cproviding cool shelters,\u201d<\/strong> by opening suitable public buildings to people who need a safe place during periods of extreme heat. Finally, \u201cstrengthen civil preparedness\u201d <\/strong>through the European Civil Protection Mechanism <\/a>to ensure rapid and coordinated responses to climate-related emergencies. <\/p>\n

“The cost of preparing Europe for extreme heat cannot fall solely on citizens and public budgets,” the MEP noted, but making cities and communities heat-resilient is also the responsibility of “the major fossil fuel companies.” The principle is as follows: \u201cthose who have contributed most to the climate crisis should also help to protect people from its consequences.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the end of the letter, Reitke asked the recipients what concrete measures they intend to take in the coming months, because \u201cThe next heatwave cannot be the moment when Europe starts preparing.\u201d She then concluded by stating that \u201cthe EU cannot prevent every heatwave, but it can do much more to reduce its impact.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following the request to the ministers, a letter was sent to the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council calling for more concrete measures. Reintke: \u201cThe EU cannot prevent every heatwave, but it can do much more to reduce its impact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":461497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25712],"tags":[1666,2449,25755,28317,29736,26027],"class_list":["post-461523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","tag-european-council","tag-european-greens","tag-news-parliament-en","tag-hadja-lahbib","tag-broth-en","tag-vertice-dei-leader-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461523"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":461524,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461523\/revisions\/461524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}