WorldPosted at: Sep 17 2026 11:08PM


Europe recorded to be world’s most unusually hot region in 2026 amid heat crisis

Brussels, Sep 17 (UNI) Europe has turned out to be the world’s most unusually hot region relative to its historical climate in 2026, with 89% of its population having experienced at least one month of extreme heat during the period from June to August.
France and the Holy See recorded temperatures averaging 3.5°C above their historical norms, followed by Andorra and Switzerland.
The prolonged heat contributed to record-breaking wildfires, widespread drought and additional pressure on emergency and health services in several parts of the continent.
The analysis, based on Climate Central’s Climate Shift Index (CSI), measured how much more likely climate change made daily temperatures between June 1 and August 31. It defined “risky heat days” as temperatures exceeding 90% of those historically recorded in a local area during the same period between 1991 and 2020.
“This represents the point at which health risks from heat begin to climb,” Climate Central said.
“On any given day this season, more than one-quarter of the world’s population felt a strong influence of climate change on local temperatures, primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels. This resulted in heatwaves across the globe and dangerous conditions for human health,” it said.
Across 203 countries, the average person experienced at least 30 days of temperatures strongly influenced by climate change during the three months. Fifty-four countries recorded their hottest June-August period in the 1970-2026 record, including France, Italy and the UK.
Asia had the largest number of people exposed to climate change-driven heat, with around 2.8 billion people, or 58% of the continent’s population, experiencing at least 30 days of risky heat.
India recorded the highest number among Asian countries, with 117 million people experiencing at least 30 additional risky heat days linked to climate change. China followed with 94 million and Indonesia with 83 million.
“Our analysis reveals a scary global pattern: whether it is nine in ten Europeans enduring risky heat, hundreds of millions impacted across Asia and Africa, or relentless record-breaking temperatures in North America, human-driven warming is pushing communities beyond safe physical limits,” said Kristina Dahl, vice-president for science at Climate Central.
“These past three months are a warning sign we cannot afford to ignore – the human and economic costs of fossil fuels are playing out in real time, and the urgency to shift away from them has never been clearer,” she said.
Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said the findings showed the growing human and economic costs of extreme heat.
“Over a billion people facing an extra month of health-threatening heat shows again the spiraling costs of the climate crisis, caused by humanity’s addiction to burning coal, oil and gas,” Stiell said. “Lives and livelihoods are being wrecked on a huge scale, health systems are under pressure, businesses are struggling, and all economies are paying the price.”
He called for a faster shift from fossil fuels to clean energy, along with stronger climate resilience and greater protection of forests.
Europe’s exceptionally hot summer, which scientists have said would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, formed part of a broader global trend.
Earlier this month, the UN warned that keeping global warming below 1.5°C was no longer possible. The threshold was agreed by almost 200 countries under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
A UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report projects a best-case warming level of 1.8°C, with warming exceeding 2°C under other scenarios. It described an “overshoot, peak and decline” pathway as the world’s most realistic prospect.
Expanding clean energy has been identified as crucial to keeping any overshoot “as small and short as possible”. Renewables generated almost 34% of the world’s electricity in 2025, but UNEP said that share would need to rise to 60-70% by 2030 to support a limited-overshoot scenario.
Wind and solar generated more electricity in the EU than fossil fuels for the first time last year, marking a major step in the bloc’s shift towards cleaner power. As per SolarPower Europe’s latest analysis, the EU’s solar generation has saved €33.8 billion in avoided gas imports since the beginning of the Iran war.
Yet despite €1.9 trillion being invested in clean energy globally each year, green power is meeting only around 40% of the increase in electricity demand. That demand is being driven in part by energy-intensive air conditioning and the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence.
Data centre energy consumption rose 17% in 2025, accounting for around 1.5-2% of global electricity use, according to the International Energy Agency. The agency expects consumption to double by 2030.
Simultaneously, the continent’s ageing electricity grids are struggling to keep pace with the growth of renewable power, leading to yearly wastage of large amounts of solar and wind energy.
While battery energy storage systems could somewhat help ease some of those constraints, experts caution that investment remains insufficient.
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