Spanish police investigate Catalan wildfire deaths as extreme temperatures grip Europe – as it happened | World news
Police investigating two deaths in Catalan wildfire
Sam Jones
Officers from Catalonia’s regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, are investigating the deaths of the two men whose bodies were found on Tuesday by firefighters tackling the blaze near the town of Coscó in Lleida province.
According to the Catalan interior minister, Núria Parlon, the two victims were farm workers who had been trapped by the flames as they tried to reach their vehicles.
In a statement, the regional fire department said the wildfire had shown “extremely violent and erratic behaviour due to the influence of the nearby storms”, adding that the arrival of rain had helped bring the blaze under control.
“Like yesterday, today is going to be complicated with regard to the risk of forest fires,” the service said on Wednesday morning. “The arrival of the storms that have been forecast for this afternoon could make extinguishing the fires more complicated. Take extreme care and call [the emergency services] if you see a column of smoke or fire.”
The regional president, Salvador Illa, has echoed the warning, telling people that such fires can spread far more quickly than you might think.
“These fires aren’t like the ones we used to have,” he said on Wednesday.
“When you find out how they evolve, you get goosebumps. There are really dangerous fires.
People see them in the distance and say, ‘I’ve got time’. No, you don’t. You’ve got no time at all because fire moves very quickly.”
Key events
Closing summary
Jakub Krupa
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
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The European heatwave moved east with high temperatures reported from Paris to Warsaw and talk of potentially record temperatures in Germany (12:13), as a political row broke out in France (13:57) over air conditioning.
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At least eight deaths linked with extreme heat were reported across the continent, including in a wildfire in Spain (13:32).
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It comes on the day as the European Commission has announced that the EU should slash its planet-heating pollution by 90% by 2040 in a proposed change to its climate law that falls short of what its scientists have advised (11:57, 15:58).
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The plan’s small print, however, raised questions over whether it signals the bloc’s retreat as leader on climate action (16:20).
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Talking to the Guardian, the EU’s green transition chief warned that political cowardice is hindering European efforts to face up to the effects of the climate crisis, even as the continent is pummelled by a record-breaking heatwave (9:32).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today. Stay cool, and see you again tomorrow.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Jakub Krupa
Worth noting that this offer comes a day after some parts of Italy introduced limits on outdoors work after reports about construction workers dying in the heatwave, with unions saying that “companies must give absolute priority to the protection of workers.”
Italian delivery platform offers bonuses for deliveries in extreme temperatures
Lorenzo Tondo
The on demand delivery platform Glovo has introduced financial bonuses for its delivery riders that scale with ambient temperatures, offering 2% extra for work between 32–36 C, 4% for 36–40 C, and 8% for temperatures above 40 C.
This means that on a €10 order, riders receive €0.20 for deliveries in the 32–36 C range, €0.40 for 36–40 C, and up to €0.80 if the temperature exceeds 40 C.
The CGIL trade union – Italy’s largest – has sounded the alarm, warning that the scheme “risks turning a health hazard into an economic incentive”, and emphasising that “no compensation can justify working under extreme risk conditions.”
AI helps find formula for paint to keep buildings cooler, a peer-reviewed study claims
Robert Booth
UK technology editor
AI-engineered paint could reduce the sweltering urban heat island effect in cities and cut air-conditioning bills, scientists have claimed, as machine learning accelerates the creation of new materials for everything from electric motors to carbon capture.
Materials experts have used artificial intelligence to formulate new coatings that can keep buildings between 5C and 20C cooler than normal paint after exposure to midday sun. They could also be applied to cars, trains, electrical equipment and other objects that will require more cooling in a world that is heating up.
Using machine learning, researchers at universities in the US, China, Singapore and Sweden designed new paint formulas tuned to best reflect the sun’s rays and emit heat, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the science journal Nature.
The paint research was carried out by academics at the University of Texas in Austin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the National University of Singapore and Umeå University in Sweden.
It found that applying one of several new AI-enabled paints to the roof of a four-storey apartment block could save electricity equivalent to 15,800 kilowatts a year in a hot climate such as Rio de Janeiro’s or Bangkok’s. If the paint were applied to 1,000 blocks, that could save enough electricity to power more than 10,000 air conditioning units for a year.
EU’s proposed 2040 emissions target signals its retreat as leader on climate action – analysis
Fiona Harvey
For most of the past 30 years, the EU has led the world on climate action. The bloc had the deepest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto protocol; the first climate laws came from EU member states; the first emissions trading scheme, in 2005; and the Paris agreement in 2015.
At times when other major countries – the US, Japan, Canada, China and India at various points – have stepped back, the EU has often stepped forward. There would be no Paris accord had the bloc not won a key battle at the Durban climate summit in 2011 that paved the way.
For Wopke Hoekstra, the EU’s climate commissioner, that era is over. Europe would still lead, he said, but other countries must come forward too.
The commission has proposed a 90% reduction on greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, compared with 1990 levels. The figure is at the bottom of the 90-95% range that the bloc’s scientific advisers said was possible, and to the consternation of many green campaigners includes a provision for up to 3% of the reductions to come from buying carbon credits overseas, from 2036.
Spain records another death linked to high temperatures
Sam Jones
in Madrid
Meanwhile in Spain, health authorities in the southwestern region of Extremadura have said a 67-year-old man in the Plasencia area had died because of the current high temperatures.
They have repeated their warnings for people to take extra care in the heat.
EU targets 90% cut in emissions by 2040 as green groups cry foul
Ajit Niranjan and Jennifer Rankin
The EU should slash its planet-heating pollution by 90% by 2040, the European Commission has announced, in a proposed change to its climate law that falls short of what its scientists have advised.
The much-awaited target to cut emissions, which is measured against pollution levels from 1990, is a significant milestone on the EU’s path to decarbonise its economy by 2050.
Green groups, however, are furious that it leaves room to count foreign carbon credits, such as planting trees and saving forests, that researchers have often found are ineffective.
The announcement of the legally binding target, which comes as much of the continent swelters in a scorching days-long heatwave, had been delayed by months after pushback from member states that found the headline figure of 90% too ambitious.
Wopke Hoekstra, the EU climate commissioner, said the discussion around the target had been “politically sensitive” but defended measures introduced to win over national capitals.
The new approach to reaching the target allows the use of domestic carbon removals through the EU’s emissions trading system and offers more flexibility across different sectors of the economy. It also opens the door for limited use of carbon offsets from 2036.
Critics, including scientists, have raised fears of junk offsets that are impossible to verify or that claim carbon savings for projects that may have gone ahead anyway, a concept known as “additionality”.
The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change had recommended the commission aim for slightly steeper cuts of 90-95%. It emphasised it should achieve them through “domestic action”, which would exclude the use of carbon offsets.
The target comes amid a broader rollback of environment policy in the EU, which campaigners say is gaining momentum. The deregulation drive has shocked observers with its scale and speed.
Jakub Krupa
I promised you earlier that we would get back to the issue of new EU emissions target to cover it in more detail, so let’s go to our Europe environment correspondent Ajit Niranjan and our Brussels correspondent Jennifer Rankin for more.
European heatwave continues – in pictures
Germany says Russia using media platform Red to sow discontent, disinformation alongside Ukraine war
Elsewhere, Germany accused Russia of using the online media outlet Red to sow discontent in German society as part of a disinformation campaign waged alongside its war in Ukraine, the foreign ministry in Berlin said, as reported by Reuters.
“Red presents itself as a revolutionary platform for independent journalists. However, it has close links with the Russian state media outlet RT,” a spokesperson for the foreign ministry told reporters in Berlin.
“Today we can confirm that Red is being used by Russia specifically to manipulate information,” the spokesperson added.
Red is run by Turkish media company AFA Medya, which together with its founder Huseyin Dogru is already the subject of EU sanctions targeting Russia and is accused of “undermining the democratic political process” in Germany.
Fruit and vegetables scorched in the fields amid Italian heatwave
Lorenzo Tondo
Italy’s record-breaking heatwave is beginning to take a serious toll on the country’s agriculture, scorching fruit and vegetables, affecting livestock, and deepening a growing drought crisis in the south.
According to Coldiretti, Italy’s largest farmers’ association, early signs of damage are already being reported from north to south: from blistered melons in Tuscany to milk shortages in Lombardy and water rationing in Sicily.
In the northern region of Lombardy, which accounts for nearly half of Italy’s milk output, dairy farms are reporting a 10% drop in production, with some areas seeing losses of up to 15%. That equates to 1.8 million fewer litres of milk each day, Coldiretti warns. Farmers have been forced to install fans and cooling sprays inside barns to help cows cope with the extreme heat, while adjusting feed with added minerals and potassium.
In Piedmont, the heat has accelerated ripening by up to two weeks for key crops such as wheat, barley, tomatoes and grapes. Growers in the province of Turin are using protective nets to shield fruit from sun damage, amid a rise in infestations of Popillia japonica, a Japanese beetle that poses a growing threat to vineyards and orchards.
In the central and southern regions, the toll is mounting. In Tuscany’s Maremma countryside, hundreds of kilos of melons have been effectively “cooked” on the vine, rendering them unsellable. Concerns are growing for watermelons, peaches, plums, tomatoes and aubergines, as relentless heat and dry soils accelerate stress.
Umbria has already seen spring crops like sunflowers and maize suffer under prolonged heat. In Molise, some dairy farms have recorded production losses of up to 30%. In Sardinia’s Nurra region, irrigation for forage crops like alfalfa has been suspended due to water shortages — leaving livestock farmers scrambling for alternatives.
Puglia is seeing declines not just in milk, but also in egg and honey production. The collapse in oats and barley yields — essential feed for animals — has added further strain.
Yet it is the south’s drought that looms largest. National reservoirs are running 164 million cubic metres below capacity. In western Sicily, water supply to farms is intermittent at best, and milk yields are falling. Vineyards in the Trapani region are on alert for outbreaks of downy mildew, a disease triggered by a mix of humidity and heat.
While the south bakes, the north faces its own extremes. In the Aosta Valley, Coldiretti reports a string of night-time hailstorms, as well as landslides and mudflows caused by unstable weather patterns.
Italy’s farmers, already on the frontlines of climate volatility, are bracing for what could be a devastating summer season.
Lorenzo Tondo
A 70-year-old lorry driver has been found dead inside his vehicle in northern Italy, with at least three fatalities linked to the ongoing heatwave.
The man was discovered shortly after 6.30am on Wednesday, parked at a motorway rest area between Sirmione and Peschiera del Garda, in the province of Brescia. Emergency services arrived at the scene, including fire crews, medical responders and officers from the Padova Sud motorway police unit, but were unable to revive him.
Initial reports suggest the man died of a sudden illness, and while the exact cause has yet to be confirmed, doctors believe the extreme heat may have been a contributing factor.
Earlier, there were separate reports about a 47-year-old construction worker who collapsed and died near Bologna while working in extreme heat, and of a woman in Sicily.
Leaders should remind the public why ambitious targets matter – The Guardian’s view
The Guardian’s view
At times like now, with dangerously high temperatures in several European countries, the urgent need for adaptation to an increasingly unstable climate is clearer than ever.
Could the current dangerous heat help to refocus minds? Portugal and Spain both recorded new records at the weekend, with temperatures over 46C. This week, scientists at a conference in Exeter are gathering to discuss climate tipping points. Generally this term refers to the passing of dangerous limits – such as melted ice sheets – after which catastrophe becomes much harder to prevent. But Prof Timothy Lenton points out that it can also be used positively. Two examples are the accelerating uptake of solar power and electric vehicles.
As well as supporting people to cope with the heat, and promoting adaptations of various kinds (for example, in building and urban design), European leaders should use current conditions to remind the public how much is at stake, and reinforce the importance of ambitious, achievable targets.
Climate despair is deadly, but the anxiety produced by recognition of the risks can be harnessed to positive effect. As well as a problem to be dealt with, the heatwave could be viewed as a teachable moment – when the public becomes more receptive to the pressing case for change.
Heatwave in France sparks political row over air-conditioning
Angelique Chrisafis
in Paris
Over in France, the heatwave has sparked a political row over air-conditioning.
As most of France sweltered in the heat, the far-right leader, Marine Le Pen seized a canvassing opportunity ahead of the 2027 presidential election, announcing she would put in place a “grand plan for air conditioning” for the nation if she won power.
In parliament, Le Pen, an MP for the Pas-de-Calais in northern France, said “air conditioning saves lives”. She said there was a problem in France if public services “are unable to function because of a lack of air-conditioning, unlike dozens of countries across the world.”
Eric Ciotti, a Le Pen ally, put down a bill in parliament this week calling for “obligatory air conditioning” for key public spaces.
France has a comparatively low number of public spaces and private homes with air-conditioning, compared to neighbouring countries such as Italy. In 2020, 25% of French homes had air-conditioning, compared to 14% in 2016, according to the national environment agency, Ademe. More homes in the south of France have air-conditioning with comparatively few in the Paris area or the east of France.
The government attacked the far-right as ignorant and “incompetent” for suggesting air-conditioning was a solution to the climate crisis. The environment minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, said air-conditioned spaces in care homes for elderly people had been obligatory in France for 20 years. She said that, although vulnerable people should be protected from the heat, air conditioning “must not be installed everywhere” because it generated a rise in temperatures outside and was “the wrong answer”.
The Green leader, Marine Tondelier, attacked Le Pen for an environmental policy limited to “buying air-conditioning units”. Tondelier said there had to be progress made on green spaces in cities and proper insulation of buildings.
Police investigating two deaths in Catalan wildfire
Sam Jones
Officers from Catalonia’s regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, are investigating the deaths of the two men whose bodies were found on Tuesday by firefighters tackling the blaze near the town of Coscó in Lleida province.
According to the Catalan interior minister, Núria Parlon, the two victims were farm workers who had been trapped by the flames as they tried to reach their vehicles.
In a statement, the regional fire department said the wildfire had shown “extremely violent and erratic behaviour due to the influence of the nearby storms”, adding that the arrival of rain had helped bring the blaze under control.
“Like yesterday, today is going to be complicated with regard to the risk of forest fires,” the service said on Wednesday morning. “The arrival of the storms that have been forecast for this afternoon could make extinguishing the fires more complicated. Take extreme care and call [the emergency services] if you see a column of smoke or fire.”
The regional president, Salvador Illa, has echoed the warning, telling people that such fires can spread far more quickly than you might think.
“These fires aren’t like the ones we used to have,” he said on Wednesday.
“When you find out how they evolve, you get goosebumps. There are really dangerous fires.
People see them in the distance and say, ‘I’ve got time’. No, you don’t. You’ve got no time at all because fire moves very quickly.”
Jakub Krupa
Let’s go back to Sam Jones in Madrid for the latest on the Catalan wildfire deaths (11:41).
