AFP

A fierce heatwave left western Europe sweltering on Tuesday, fuelling ferocious wildfires and stretching emergency services, as it swept north and pushed temperatures in Britain over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time.

After the UK’s warmest night on record, the Met Office said 40.2C had been provisionally recorded by lunchtime at Heathrow Airport, in west London, taking the country into uncharted territory.

Britain’s previous all-time temperature record of 38.7C, set in Cambridge in eastern England in 2019, had already been smashed earlier Tuesday.

“For the first time ever, 40 Celsius has provisionally been exceeded in the UK,” the Met Office meteorological agency said, warning “temperatures are still climbing in many places”.

Experts blame climate change for the latest heatwave and note the more frequent extreme weather will only worsen in years to come.

The high temperatures have triggered an unprecedented red alert for extreme heat in much of England, where some rail lines were closed as a precaution and schools shuttered in some areas.

All trains were cancelled from London’s usually busy Kings Cross station, leaving many travellers stranded. 

“It’s a little frustrating,” said American tourist Deborah Byrne, trying to reach Scotland.

But with road surfaces and runways melting and rails buckling, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps conceded much of Britain’s infrastructure “is just not built for this temperature”. 

Tim Wainwright, chief executive of the charity WaterAid, said the situation should be “the wake-up call the world needs to stop climate change from claiming any more lives”. 

– Wildfires –

In France, towns and cities in the country’s west registered their highest-ever temperatures Monday, the national weather office said.

The western region of Brittany — normally cool and often wet in summer — set new record highs Monday above 40C. 

Despite cooler air from the Atlantic offering some respite there Tuesday, dozens of departments remained on orange alert, with temperatures still expected to top 40C in the east and south and violent thunderstorms forecast locally.

The heatwave — the second to engulf parts of Europe in recent weeks — has contributed to deadly wildfires in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain, destroying vast tracts of land.

Firefighters in France’s southwest were still struggling to contain two massive fires that have caused widespread destruction and forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes.

Nearly 1,700 firefighters from all over the country, supported by significant air resources, are battling the two blazes that have so far burned more than 19,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of forest.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Patrick Davet, mayor of La Teste-de-Buch, the site of one inferno which has prompted mass evacuations.

“Economically, it’s going to be very difficult for them and very difficult for the town because we are a tourist town, and we need the (tourist) season.”

In Brittany’s Finistere region, hundreds of firefighters, specialised vehicles and waterbombing aircraft were tackling blazes.

– Deaths –

In Spain — nearly 10 days into the latest heatwave — more than a dozen fires continued to rage Tuesday, including in the northwest province of Zamora, which already experienced a huge fire last month.

Known as one of the largest wolf reserves in Europe, it saw nearly 30,000 hectares of land reduced to ashes during the June blaze.

Nearly 6,000 people had to be evacuated from there this week after flames destroyed several thousand hectares of meadows and forests, regional authorities said. 

Rail traffic between Madrid and Galicia, in the northwest, remained suspended after fires on either side of the tracks.

Several people have died in recent days due to the blazes while separately, an office worker in his 50s died from heatstroke in Madrid.

In Portugal, more than 1,400 firefighters were fighting fires in the centre and north of the country, despite a clear drop in temperatures in recent days.

A couple in their 70s died Monday after they ran off the road while trying to escape the flames in their car.

Almost the entire country has been on high alert for wildfires despite a slight drop in temperatures, which last Thursday hit 47C — a record for July.

The fires have already killed two other people, injured around 60 and destroyed between 12,000 and 15,000 hectares of land there.

– Heat –

Elsewhere, temperatures could locally exceed 40C in Belgium near the French border, prompting the Royal Meteorological Institute to issue its highest alert level.

Big state-run museums, primarily in Brussels, took the unusual step of offering free access Tuesday to over-65s to help them stay cool.

In Germany, temperatures were expected to reach up to 40C in the west.

On Monday, two firefighters were injured while beating back a forest fire in a mountainous area in Saxony state.

The hot summer so far has raised fears of drought, with the German Farmers’ Association president warning of “major losses” in food production.

Henning Christ, who grows wheat and other crops in Brandenburg state, told AFP his farm was 20 percent below its average annual yield.

“We’ve had almost no rain for months, coupled with high temperatures,” he said. 

“We have become used to drought and dry periods to some extent, but this year has been very unusual.”

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The world’s transition to clean energy sources must be “just” and financed by the hydrocarbon trade, the climate change minister of oil-rich United Arab Emirates told AFP.

Mariam Almheiri was interviewed in France where a fierce heatwave set record temperatures as western Europe wilted under a scorching sun and wildfires that devoured forests.

Experts are blaming climate change and predict more frequent extreme weather to come.

“It’s not a switch. We’re not ready yet. And oil and gas will still be part of the energy mix for some time”, she said in an interview Monday as UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan visited Paris for energy talks.

“We need… a just transition because every country is not at the same level,” the minister of climate change and the environment added, stressing the UAE was using its oil and gas wealth to ramp up renewable sources. 

“You need to build your equipment from what energy you got to do that,” she said. “Clean and renewable energy costs money.”

The international community largely agrees that climate change poses an existential threat to the planet and future of mankind. 

But action to cut carbon pollution and prepare for the accelerating impact is lagging, as is support for vulnerable countries confronting the ravages of a changing climate.

– ‘We will provide’ –

Adding to the pressure has been Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that has sent food and energy prices spiralling.

Western sanctions aimed at crippling major energy producer Russia have resulted in sharply higher fuel costs in Europe and the United States, with inflation soaring as a result.

This has pushed the Unites States and Europe to try to persuade oil-rich countries like the UAE to increase energy supplies to bring prices back under control.

“Look at what we’re going through right now. Months ago, people were pointing their fingers at us going: ‘Why are you still producing?’ Now they’re coming to say: ‘Please produce, please produce.'”

A top oil producer in OPEC, the UAE’s rapid growth since the 1970s has been driven by its energy wealth.

But having diversified its economy over the decades, the desert country of one million locals and nine million foreigners relies less and less on petrol, with revenues now making up only 30 percent of GDP.

At the same time, it forecasts that the oil and gas industry would need to invest over $600 billion every year until 2030 just to keep up with expected demand.

“We are a country that has oil and gas as a natural resource. We don’t have water… so as long as the world needs oil and gas we will provide,” said Almheiri.

The country was built on oil, but is spending billions to develop enough renewable energy to cover half of its needs by 2050. 

It is building two of the world’s largest solar power plants in the capital Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

It has also joined the nuclear club, with its Barakah nuclear power station, the first in the Arab world.

And last year, it launched a “strategic initiative” targeting carbon neutrality by 2050.

– Two-pronged approach –

Meteorologists are predicting more frequent and intense episodes of extreme weather in coming years.

“The increase in the frequency, duration, and intensity of these events over recent decades is clearly linked to the observed warming of the planet and can be attributed to human activity,” the World Meteorological Organisation said. 

Heatwaves of the future will depend largely on how rapidly the global economy can decarbonise.

While several towns and cities in France recorded their highest ever temperatures on Monday, the Gulf region is also at risk.

In the region, summer means suffering for anyone working outside, along with risks of dehydration, heat stroke and heart failure.

Countries of the energy-rich Gulf have banned working outdoors in the hottest hours of the day.

A study in the journal Nature Climate Change found that within this century, parts of the Gulf region could be hit by “unprecedented events of deadly heat as a result of climate change”.

Almheiri said her country, which next year is hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28, has adopted a “two-pronged approach” while advocating further investments in oil and gas.

“We are ramping up our renewables because we have targets of where we want to reach, and we are decarbonising our oil and gas.”

Europe’s searing heatwave is generating very high levels of harmful ozone pollution, the region’s atmospheric monitoring service warned Tuesday, adding that large areas of western Europe also face “extreme” danger of wildfires. 

Record temperatures, which scientists say are driven by climate change, are predicted in France and Britain Tuesday as suffocating heat that has gripped southwest Europe and sparked ferocious wildfires moves northwards.

“Tinder dry conditions and extreme heat are exacerbating the risk of wildfires,” according to a statement from the Copernicus monitoring service. 

The organisation’s emergency management service has warned that a large proportion of western Europe is in “extreme fire danger” with some areas of “very extreme fire danger”. 

The heatwave is also causing high levels of ground-level ozone, Copernicus said. 

Unlike the protective layer in the upper atmosphere, this is a major greenhouse gas and component of urban smog that harms human health and inhibits photosynthesis in plants. 

“The potential impacts of very high ozone pollution on human health can be considerable both in terms of respiratory and cardio-vascular illness,” said Mark Parrington, Senior Scientist from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.  

Ozone is formed as emissions from fossil fuels and other man-made pollutants react in the presence of sunlight and Copernicus said cutting emissions of these pollutants is “crucial”. 

Scientists have already detected “extremely high surface ozone pollution” across western and southern Europe, particularly over the Iberian Peninsula and parts of northern Italy.

Daily maximum levels of surface ozone, which normally peaks during the middle of the day, reached unhealthy levels in Portugal, Spain and Italy, according to Copernicus. 

Scientists now warn that, while the situation is likely to ease across the Iberian Peninsula, very high surface ozone levels are now being seen in areas of northern and western parts of the continent as temperatures rise. 

The ozone levels in these regions are forecast to peak in the next few days, before easing.

Copernicus also predicted no relief from the wildfires that have engulfed swathes of forests across parts of southern Europe.  

– One million ozone pollution deaths –

In southwest France, two massive fires have created apocalyptic scenes of destruction, despite  much of the country’s entire firefighting capacity being deployed.

Copernicus said total carbon emissions from the wildfires in Spain so far in July are the highest seen for the June-July period since 2003.  

Parrington said high surface ozone can lead to sore throats, coughing, headaches and an increased risk of asthma attacks.

The Clean Air Alliance estimates that ozone pollution causes approximately one million additional deaths per year.

Ozone is also a key concern for agricultural regions and food security. 

In January, researchers estimated that persistently high levels of ozone pollution in Asia are costing China, Japan and South Korea an estimated $63 billion annually in lost rice, wheat and maize crops.