The Heat of the Future
Around 40 degrees during the day and around 30 degrees at night – that is what the future holds in terms of heat if we continue to treat climate protection as recklessly and carelessly as we do at present.
That is the forecast from climate science. By the end of July alone, 9,800 people in Germany had died as a result of the heat. And further heatwaves are predicted for August.
In terms of daytime temperatures, Germany has already caught up with France and Spain. It is already 2.5 degrees warmer here than it was at the start of the industrial age. The Rhine, Main, Elbe and Lake Constance are reporting record-low water levels, which is costing the economy – and therefore all of us – dearly.
The new German heat record stands at 41.8 degrees in Möckern-Drewitz (Saxony-Anhalt). Many fear that these figures will become the new normal. It is likely that many more people will die from heat-related causes and as a result of tropical nights before we tackle climate change as seriously as we could have done for a long time now, given the necessary political will.
The main cause of this crisis is undoubtedly climate change. The latest forest fires in Europe are among the most devastating in the history of these countries and have forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.
“Climate change is causing the weather conditions that turn landscapes into fire traps and allow fires to become disasters to occur much more frequently,” says researcher and founder of the World Weather Attribution (WWA) Friederike Otto of Imperial College London, speaking to the TAZ.
The forest fires that have already occurred in Spain and Portugal are now being joined by fires on Crete, in Turkey and in the English county of Suffolk, near a nuclear power station. In Germany, too, a fire is currently burning on a former military site in Jüterborg.
Hundreds of thousands of hectares have already been burnt in Europe in 2026 since the start of the year. The WWA research network states that the probability of such fire-prone weather has risen significantly due to climate change – at least doubling in south-west France and increasing twentyfold in parts of Spain.
We are now facing a dangerous combination of heat, drought and wind. Climate researcher Mojib Latif describes Germany’s current policy in the face of this existential threat as ‘nonsense’. Kirsten Thonicke from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: ‘This really ought to be the final wake-up call to realise that we need more climate protection at national and European level, not less’. Mr Merz and Ms Reiche – wake up!
- arte.tv media library “SOS Mediterranean” – After the Arctic, the Mediterranean is the second-fastest warming climate region in the world. From Greece to Morocco, from Spain to Egypt, droughts, floods, forest fires, invasive fish species and rising sea levels are transforming landscapes and entire ecosystems – and with them the future of 500 million people in this cultural region dating back millennia.
