UN climate chief links Europe's record heat to rising prices and winter fuel risk
UN climate chief Simon Stiell says Europe's summer heatwaves are worsening inflation, with another winter fuel crisis looming due to fossil fuel dependence.
Europe's summer of extreme heat has intensified inflationary pressure on the region, which may also confront a winter fuel crisis, the United Nations' climate secretary, Simon Stiell, said on Thursday.
Speaking to a European Parliament committee in Brussels, Stiell said the heatwaves and wildfires that struck many European countries came on top of an existing fossil fuel cost crisis. He described the combination as a "deathly double-blow" that is pushing up prices for households, businesses and governments.
August was registered as the world's joint-hottest month on record, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Stiell, who serves as Executive Secretary of UNFCCC, the UN's climate change arm, said dependence on volatile fossil fuel imports has long been an economic vulnerability for Europe. He noted that households and businesses have again faced higher bills this year, and warned that another winter fuel crisis is looming because of that dependency.
The remarks tie the region's immediate cost-of-living pressures to its energy import reliance, with the climate chief pointing to both extreme weather and fuel costs as drivers of higher prices across the continent.