The United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, has said that Europe has so far spent €180 billion on climate crisis this summer, warning that the crisis has become a continent-wide economic and security emergency.
Addressing the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety in Brussels, Belgium, Stiell said that the economic damage from climate-driven extreme heat, droughts and other weather events is equivalent to about one percentage point of European Union gross domestic product (GDP)—the same level of growth forecast for the EU economy.
“This is the price of global fossil fuel addiction hitting home,” Stiell said, describing Europe’s exceptionally hot summer as evidence that climate change could no longer be treated as a partisan political issue.
He said that the extreme heat had killed tens of thousands of people and inflicted widespread damage on infrastructure, businesses and economies.
According to the UN climate chief, the summer had brought mass evacuations, power station closures, disrupted trade routes, crop losses and declining yields, with food prices rising as a result.
“Climate is sometimes seen as a partisan issue: as territory in culture wars. That is palpably false.”
Stiell said Europe is facing a “deathly double-blow” from climate impacts and its continuing exposure to volatile fossil-fuel prices.
He warned that households, businesses and governments are being squeezed by higher energy costs at a time when climate disasters were also increasing insurance premiums and leaving some properties and businesses effectively uninsurable.
The climate crisis, he said, is also contributing to higher government borrowing costs, reducing the fiscal space available to governments to provide essential public services.
He noted that climate impacts are not confined to Europe, pointing to devastating floods in the Himalayas and extreme heat in North Africa, where communities had experienced deaths, power outages, water shortages and economic disruption.
In some regions, he said, climate impacts are also contributing to forced migration both within countries and across national borders.
Stiell stressed the need for Europe’s response to go beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions to building resilience against increasingly severe climate impacts.
“No wonder some EU member states are calling for a dedicated climate adaptation fund,” he said.
The UN official urged Europe to accelerate its transition away from fossil fuels, arguing that clean energy offered the continent a more secure and affordable alternative to volatile fossil-fuel imports.
He said renewables now provide about half of Europe’s electricity as investment in clean energy continues to grow.
Solar power alone, he added, has saved Europe more than €30 billion in avoided gas imports during the first six months of the conflict in the Middle East.
“Clean energy is the surest path to deliver, cheaply and safely,” Stiell said, arguing that greater investment in renewable energy would strengthen Europe’s energy security, economic stability and policy-making autonomy.
He also pointed to the economic opportunities created by the clean technology sector, saying European companies were already at the forefront of several clean industries.
Globally, more than $2 trillion was invested in clean energy in the previous year—twice the amount invested in fossil fuels, according to Stiell.
He said the growing clean-energy market represents a major opportunity for Europe to create jobs, strengthen businesses and improve living standards.
