{"id":516752,"date":"2026-06-29T15:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T15:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/516752\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T15:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T15:13:09","slug":"europe-heatwave-shows-need-to-reject-climate-denial-lies-says-eu-green-chief-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/516752\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe heatwave shows need to reject climate denial \u2018lies\u2019, says EU green chief | Climate crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The heatwave wreaking chaos across Europe<\/a> is a \u201cdramatic warning\u201d to reject climate naysayers, a European Commission vice-president says.<\/p>\n

Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president for a clean, just and competitive transition, lambasted those who listened to the \u201cvested interests\u201d of the fossil fuel industry rather than scientists and their own citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a dramatic warning being sent once again by nature on what it means to have a different climate system,\u201d she told the Guardian. \u201cWhat we are experiencing today [in the form of record heat] is what we knew could happen, but we have not been smart enough to address the root causes. There is still this fierce fight against facts, science, preparedness, and investment [in clean energy], so we are failing people. We need to reject this kind of bullshit based on lies, and against people\u2019s interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teresa Ribera: \u2018We need to reject this kind of bullshit [climate crisis denial] based on lies, and against people\u2019s interests.\u2019 Photograph: Mauro Ujetto\/LaPresse\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The record heat of the past week<\/a> is set to abate this week in parts of western Europe, but Germany, Czechia, Poland and Hungary reached record temperatures of more than 40C on Sunday as the heatwave<\/a> spread east. Italy and the Balkans felt the impact of the scorching temperatures on Monday, with growing concerns over the spread of wildfires, while Ukraine\u2019s energy grid was buckling under temperatures in excess of 36C. Schools and tourist attractions have closed<\/a>, businesses have sent staff home, some nuclear reactors have had to be taken offline, and the World Health Organisation said the early summer heatwave was responsible for more than 1,300 excess deaths, although the true toll will not be known until later<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ribera recalled listening as a teenager to a Spanish song called 37 Degrees, about what happens when the temperature rises that far \u2013 something she experienced for only a few days a year in Madrid at that time. Today, she said, \u201cthat could be three, four, five weeks, and even in London, in Paris, in Berlin\u201d.<\/p>\n

A woman uses a fan to cool her baby amid a heatwave, during mass led by Pope Leo in St Peter\u2019s Basilica, at the Vatican, on Monday 29 June. Photograph: Yara Nardi\/Reuters<\/p>\n

She blamed \u201cnonsense and ideologically driven lies\u201d peddled by vested interests for suggesting that climate policies<\/a> \u2013 such as the EU\u2019s \u201cgreen deal\u201d suite of measures <\/a>to cut greenhouse gas emissions, protect nature and shift to a low-carbon economy \u2013 were unpopular<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am tired of hearing \u2018people don\u2019t back the green deal any more\u2019\u2026 it is not true,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople prefer to ensure fresh water that is not polluted. People prefer breathing clean air, or counting on a healthy ecosystem, than having polluted water, no capacity to ensure crops and harvests, and [heat that means] a city becomes not liveable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, those in positions of authority should seize on the heatwave to remind people \u201cthat we cannot accept being bullied and stay silent\u201d by the fossil fuel industry and its supporters. \u201cWe cannot allow people manipulating and targeting climate action just to hide the vested interests that may gain in the short term incredible profits for a few, [while] betraying the whole of humankind,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"LightningLightning bolts strike Eiffel Tower during Paris thunderstorm \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s brightest economic prospects lay in renewable energy, Ribera added. \u201cWhen people speak about competitiveness, we cannot think of a competitive industry in Europe<\/a> if we need to rely on something we do not produce, which is fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ribera was the environment minister of Spain from 2018 to 2024, during which time the government pushed heavily for renewable energy. Owing to that massive build-out of solar and wind power<\/a>, while other countries have had rising energy bills in the wake of the US-Israel offensive in Iran, Spain now enjoys some of the cheapest electricity in the EU<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Solar panels in the Las Rozas, Spain. Spain now enjoys some of the cheapest electricity in the EU. Photograph: Bloomberg\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201c[We had to] change the economics to ensure that the whole transformation was anchored in opportunities for people,\u201d she said. \u201cThe first thing was to face down coal.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Europe failed to see through its transformation to a low-carbon, renewable energy driven economy, the whole world would suffer, Ribera added. \u201cThis is why it\u2019s so important that Europe succeeds: a failure or derailment could mean so many other people in the world thinking, \u2018OK, that was an illusion, it does not deliver\u2019. So we need to resist these demands to slow down, accept fossil fuels for longer \u2013 it\u2019s not going to help at all. We have a great opportunity to keep building and accelerating the change, and build resilience to be prepared for a hotter, drier or more risky reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ribera, who has chief responsibility for the green deal and Europe\u2019s climate policy, also warned about the climate risks posed by AI. She called on datacentre developers to reduce their impact on water resources and energy supplies<\/a>, before creating a backlash in areas where they are sited<\/a>. \u201cIf we want to avoid clashes with local communities<\/a>, it\u2019s good to follow this advice [voluntarily], before it becomes a rejection.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The heatwave wreaking chaos across Europe is a \u201cdramatic warning\u201d to reject climate naysayers, a European Commission vice-president…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-516752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}