Climate change is acting as a catalyst
Violent forest fires are raging across southern Europe. Campsites are being evacuated. Over 20,000 tourists have already been affected; they have been moved to safety as a precaution.
The Spanish Prime Minister has spoken of a “climate emergency” after around 32,000 hectares of land were destroyed by the flames in the province of Guadalajara alone. Pedro Sánchez is calling for a cross-party “national response to the climate emergency”. This state of emergency has now been declared – for the first time due to a forest fire. In the capital, Madrid, the worst fears have come true: several fires have merged into one major blaze, forcing some 20,000 people around Madrid to leave their homes.
In France, too, several villages have had to be evacuated due to the fires, as well as eight holiday centres and three campsites. On France’s Atlantic coast, 63,000 people have already had to be brought to safety. President Macron described the situation as “very tense” and called for help from the EU. Since the start of the year, 50,000 hectares have been burnt in France – three times as much as in the same period last year. BILD estimates: “1,400 football pitches are being burnt down every hour.”
Germany, too, is affected by increasingly severe weather conditions that favour forest fires.
For Germany, data from the German Weather Service show that the number of days with a high risk of forest fire (level 4 out of 5) has roughly doubled since the 1960s – from an average of around 6 to just over 11 days per year. These days are affected by forest fires. Dry summers, heatwaves and images of burning forests are no longer confined to countries such as Spain, Portugal or Greece.
“In Central Europe, the risk of forest fires has changed along with the climate,” says forestry scientist Prof. Jürgen Bauhus from the University of Freiburg. Across Europe, more forest area has been burnt in 2025 than at any other time since EU records began in 2006.
Experts believe that longer dry spells and extreme heatwaves may occur more frequently in future. This could also lead to a further increase in the number of forest fires.
The new German heat record has shown how quickly extreme temperatures can become a burden on society and the economy as a whole. The “Handelsblatt” commissioned a calculation of the costs of the heatwave to the German economy: the heatwave between 17 and 30 June 2026 alone cost 6.4 billion euros. During this period, temperatures in Germany at times exceeded 40 degrees. Hospitals, care homes and retirement homes were pushed to their limits; tarmac cracked on the motorways; buildings overheated; and demand for cooling and energy soared dramatically. Heat is no longer just a health risk, but also a growing economic cost factor.
Climate change is acting as a catalyst in many areas and is increasingly jeopardising our prosperity.
But what is the German federal government doing?
In many respects, it treats climate protection as a tiresome afterthought: Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche, in particular, are trying to ignore the issue whilst systematically watering down laws and regulations. This is irresponsible.
What else needs to happen before Mr Merz and Ms Reiche wake up to the reality of the situation?
