Facing rising risks of extreme heat, Prof. Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, climate scientist at UCLouvain and ULiege, Belgium, said Europe, like all countries, needed to take the climate challenge more seriously.
BRUSSELS, June 24 (Xinhua) -- A persistent and severe heatwave affected multiple European countries in late June. As the heat expanded from southwestern Europe into more northerly parts of the continent, countries in the north of Western Europe, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, also issued heat warnings and took response measures.
The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) said the Netherlands issued code orange for extreme heat for its central and southern regions from the afternoon of June 24 through at least June 26, warning that high temperatures could have a significant impact on public health and daily activities. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has also activated its National Heat Plan.
Luxembourg's national weather service MeteoLux also issued a heat warning for the whole country, warning of "extreme heat stress" and a likely risk of heat exhaustion and heatstroke.
In neighboring Belgium, hot weather also persisted, with the heatwave arriving unusually early. The Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (RMI) said Uccle has been experiencing an unusually early heatwave since June 17. Alerts issued by the institute showed that almost the entire country would be under an orange heat alert from 00:00 on June 24 to 00:00 on June 29. Starting June 24, maximum temperatures in most parts of Belgium were expected to reach or exceed 35 degrees Celsius.
David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at the RMI, told Xinhua that the current heatwave in Western Europe was affected by several meteorological factors, including the extension of the Azores High, changes in the jet stream pattern and the so-called "heat dome" effect. In his view, the heat dome effect was the major factor.
A heat dome generally refers to a stable high-pressure system that remains over a region for a prolonged period, trapping hot air and preventing it from dispersing. Under high pressure, air sinks and warms through compression, while reduced cloud cover and stronger sunshine allow heat to accumulate near the surface.
Dehenauw said parts of France and Spain were experiencing more intense heat than Belgium mainly because of their latitude and proximity to the Mediterranean Sea, which is much warmer than usual.
On the outlook for Belgium in the coming days, Dehenauw said local temperatures could reach 39 degrees Celsius on Friday, with four consecutive days of 35 degrees Celsius or more. He said forecasts suggested the current week could become Belgium's hottest since the country's independence in 1830.
From an unusually early heatwave in Western Europe in May to the sustained high temperatures affecting multiple countries in late June, Europe's repeated heat events have again drawn attention to the link between climate change and the growing risk of extreme heat.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in June that Western Europe had already experienced an unusually early and intense heatwave in late May 2026, mainly from May 21 to 30. According to ERA5 climate data, daily average temperatures in western France, England and Wales were more than 10 degrees Celsius above normal for the time of year.
The European State of the Climate 2025 report, published in April by C3S and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), also showed that Europe is the fastest-warming continent, warming at more than twice the global average rate.
Prof. Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, climate scientist at UCLouvain and ULiege, Belgium, and former Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told Xinhua that climate change is increasing the risk of extreme heat. "The answer is a clear yes," he said.
"The greenhouse gases, mostly carbon dioxide and methane, that humanity has emitted over the last 150 years have accumulated a thermal insulation layer around our planet, and this causes the average temperature to increase," he said.
When a zone of high atmospheric pressure stays above a region for days in a row, it adds heat locally, and the combination of climate change and this temporary meteorological situation results in episodes of extreme temperature seen in many parts of the world, he said.
Van Ypersele said the IPCC had warned about heatwaves since its first report in 1990. The repeated severe heatwaves in Europe in recent years show that extreme heat is becoming a long-term summer risk for the continent.
Heatwaves are among the major types of extreme weather events. The IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report said human-induced climate change has made hot extremes, including heatwaves, more frequent and more intense across most land regions. For Europe, where warming is faster, cities are dense and populations are aging, extreme heat poses growing risks to public health and urban systems.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says prolonged heat can increase the risk of heatstroke, dehydration and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, with older people, people with chronic diseases and outdoor workers among the more vulnerable groups. In cities, dense buildings, paved surfaces and limited green space can intensify the urban heat island effect, further amplifying heat risks.
Facing rising risks of extreme heat, van Ypersele said Europe, like all countries, needed to take the climate challenge more seriously. He told Xinhua that Europe needs both adaptation to the climate change it has not been able to avoid and mitigation, or emissions reductions, to avoid a climate to which adapting would be excessively difficult and costly. He said priority should be given to measures that can deliver synergies between adaptation and mitigation.
He cited buildings as an example, saying they are places where people spend a significant part of their time. Very energy-efficient buildings, if designed or renovated to keep their indoor climate healthy throughout the seasons, including during heatwaves, can contribute to significant emissions reductions while helping people live through temperature extremes, he said. ■
