The numbers are staggering and still climbing. At least 3,700 excess deaths have been reported across France, Belgium, and the Netherlands during a punishing heatwave that gripped Western Europe between June 22 and 28. According to France’s public health authority, deaths at home surged by 91% in a single week compared to the period immediately preceding the heat event. Deaths in nursing homes and healthcare facilities also rose sharply.
And there is no immediate reprieve in sight. Spain’s national weather agency, Aemet, has issued a special alert for the second heatwave of the summer, this time expected to hit particularly hard in Galicia and the Basque Country — regions in northern Spain typically known for their mild, Atlantic climate.
A Norwegian editorial in Dagbladet captured a darker dimension of the crisis, calling extreme heat “one of Europe’s clearest class issues.” The piece argued that the burden of lethal temperatures falls disproportionately on the elderly, the poor, and those without access to air conditioning or green spaces — turning a weather event into a question of social justice.
