Extreme Summer Costs Europe Hundreds of Billions of Euros and Tens of Thousands of Lives

An abnormally hot and dry summer has turned into both a humanitarian and financial disaster for Europe: according to preliminary estimates, heat, wildfires and drought have claimed tens of thousands of lives across the continent, while hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes.

France's Minister for Ecological Transition, Monique Barbut, estimated the country's total damage from this summer's heat at €10-15 billion — roughly 0.5% of France's GDP. She stressed that this figure covers only direct costs, including lost housing and income, and that expenses are set to rise in the coming years unless governments take action to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Heat reaches places no one expected

"This summer has perhaps demonstrated more clearly than any before it just how severe the risks we're facing really are," said Carlo Buontempo, Director of the Climate Change Department at the EU's Copernicus climate service, in an interview. He noted that the issue isn't just the scale of the heat or the intensity of the wildfires — extreme weather hit regions previously considered largely immune to such threats, including forest fires in Belgium, a heatwave in the UK, and a drought affecting more than half the continent.

Yet, as foreign media point out, despite increasingly frequent climate disasters, adaptation to climate change remains a peripheral issue in political debate. France's presidential campaign is a telling example: the summer brought massive wildfires, drought along the Loire River and exhausting heat, yet most candidates have largely avoided the topic. The exception is left-wing politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has spoken directly about the climate crisis and the need to change lifestyles, production and trade — a stance that has won him support among younger voters.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for pan-European cooperation on the issue. "Denial is the worst fuel," he said, underlining the need for broad political consensus on climate adaptation.

Who will pick up the climate bill

According to the European Environment Agency, extreme weather events have cost the EU €822 billion between 1980 and 2024, with a quarter of that total incurred in just the last four years of observation.

"The problem is that such disasters are becoming more and more frequent," Federico Barriga-Salazar, head of Western Europe sovereign ratings at Fitch, told Reuters. He noted that disaster response is shifting from a one-off budget item to a regular, ongoing expense.

Climate-related costs are placing growing pressure on already strained European budgets, which are also rising due to defense spending and an aging population. "Politicians have long understood that every pound spent on climate measures is a pound that can't go toward social protection, education, healthcare or defense," says Patrick Bayer, professor of political economy at the University of Glasgow.

France is currently facing this budgetary dilemma particularly acutely: the country's national debt has reached €3.5 trillion, exceeding EU limits, while the government has pledged to boost defense spending and promised not to raise taxes — even as climate adaptation still requires funding. "Let's be honest — we need billions," said MP Sophie Panonacle, who represents the Arcachon Bay area, one of the regions hit hardest by this summer's wildfires.

Bayer also points out that the growing influence of far-right forces — particularly visible in France, where Marine Le Pen currently leads ahead of the presidential election — is hindering the adoption of climate measures. However, climatologist Buontempo believes this summer, which Europeans experienced firsthand, could change the picture. "We are approaching the point where the consequences of our actions will start to touch each of us directly and tangibly. And I think that's when the reckoning will come. We're not that far from it — perhaps we've already lived through part of it this summer," he concludes.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz