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Fifty years ago, the recent deadly heatwave that shattered temperature records across Europe would have been “virtually impossible.” That’s according to a new scientific study by the nonprofit, World Weather Attribution. “Driven by climate change and global warming, the phenomenon of the ‘once-in-a-generation’ heatwave is now occurring nearly annual[ly],” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization. At least 1,300 people have died, an initial WHO accounting estimated, as France, Germany, and other countries reel from the hottest temperatures on record.
Now it’s North America’s turn. This weekend, an estimated 250 million people across the eastern half of the US will face a ferocious heatwave, with temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in many places. Then it will be Europe’s turn again, as another surge of extreme heat hits the continent.
It’s the same story in Asia. China, Japan, and Korea all experienced their hottest summers on record last year. In May of this year, India was home to 97 of the world’s 100 hottest cities, as temperatures of 45 to 48 degrees Celsius (113 to 118 degrees F), became routine. A report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace highlighted the scale of human suffering, pointing out that “roughly three-quarters of India’s workforce — about 380 million people — labors in heat-exposed sectors, agriculture and construction above all.”
It’s too soon to know how many people will die from all this heat. Partly that’s because heat “is invisible,” said Jeff Goodell, the author of The Heat Will Kill You First, at a webinar Covering Climate Now hosted on June 30 to help journalists cover extreme heat. “When people die during heatwaves, there’s no sort of gunshot wound…. So it takes some detective work on the part of officials and others to come up with good numbers about mortality rates.”
Indeed, initial reports estimated that the landmark 2003 European heatwave had killed 15,000 people, a figure sometimes still repeated today. However, subsequent epidemiological analysis concluded that the actual death toll was nearly five times higher. Today, one expert has calculated that more than 20,000 people likely died during the June 2026 European heatwave. Although the study has not yet been peer-reviewed, its author, Christopher Callahan of Indiana University, applied vetted methods for estimating heat mortality to conclude that 5,210 people likely died in France, 4,543 in Germany, 3,163 in Spain, and 2,709 in Italy.
Despite the unequivocal link between climate change and extreme heat, a distressing number of news stories have not made the climate connection to this unfolding disaster. In the US, the evening news shows of ABC, CBS, and NBC led their June 23 broadcasts with the European heatwave but “failed to mention climate change even in passing,” reported the media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting. Given the advanced state of climate attribution science in 2026, that is simply not journalistically defensible.
Civic-minded reporting can literally save lives. Journalists are part of what scholars call the “social infrastructure” that shapes how communities experience and respond to extreme weather. In the short term, that means providing accurate, timely information about the dangers facing people and how they can stay safe. But the best reporting also explains why this deadly heat is happening in the first place: Humans have overheated the planet, primarily by burning fossil fuels, and this is making heatwaves hotter, longer, and more frequent.
One mistake journalists should particularly avoid is pairing extreme heat stories with photos or videos that portray the heat as positive, even fun, Saffron O’Neill, a professor at the University of Exeter, said during the webinar. A peer-reviewed study O’Neill and colleagues conducted of news coverage of the 2019 European heatwave found that “fun in the sun [images] of people splashing around in city fountains, having fun at the beach,” was common, she said. Scholarly analysis, she added, has discovered that “if you have a story that pulls in different narrative directions — [if] you have text that says one thing, this is a public health emergency, and you have a visual that says something else — people tend to go with the visual, they’ll see [extreme heat] as not … something they need to care about.”
What’s indisputable is that more heat is coming. The soaring temperatures and sticky humidity brutalizing so much of the planet today are happening after average global temperatures have risen “only” 1.4 degrees C above preindustrial levels. But global temperatures are on track to rise 2.7 degrees C and will keep rising, scientists say, until humans phase out the burning of fossil fuels. “What scares me most,” Patrick Galey, the head of fossil fuels investigations for the nonprofit Global Witness, said at the webinar, “is that, if we continue to allow the fossil fuel industry to profitably poison us to death, this will be the coolest summer for the rest of our lives.”
From Us
RSVP: CCNow Basics training. Join us on Wednesday, August 12, at 10am US Eastern Time (2pm UTC), for a training session on the Three Pillars approach to climate change journalism: humanize, localize, solutionize. All journalists, especially early-career reporters, are invited!
Locally Sourced: Heat and Worker Safety. Over 70% of the global workforce is now exposed to deadly temperatures, which kills more than 19,000 workers annually. Explore story samples and resources to get you started reporting on what workers need to stay safe on the job during extreme heat events. Plus, sign up to receive the latest Locally Sourced every other Tuesday.
Watch: Deadly Heat, Vital Reporting. As millions of Europeans sweltered under record-shattering heat and North America prepared to face similar temperatures, CCNow hosted a conversation with Patrick Galey of Global Witness, Jeff Goodell of Rolling Stone magazine, and Saffron O’Neill of the University of Exeter about how civic-minded reporting can literally save lives.
Radar Clima: El cambio climático es una cuestión de derechos humanos. En la última edición de Radar Clima, nuestro boletín en español para periodistas de todas las áreas, marcamos el primera aniversario de la Opinión Consultiva de la Corte Interamericana que reconoció el cambio climático como una crisis de derechos humanos, y te damos las claves para identificar e investigar cuando estas dos emergencias están conectadas. Échale un vistazo a las ediciones anteriores y suscríbete para recibir el boletín los miércoles.
Noteworthy Stories
Headwinds. SunZia, the largest wind farm in the US capable of powering more than a million homes, came online this month in New Mexico. But the industry is facing many challenges — ranging from the Trump administration’s attack on renewable energies to inflation to local opposition. By Mark Chediak for Bloomberg Green…
Dropped goal. Under pressure from the Trump administration, the World Bank will no longer keep its commitment to direct 45% of annual financing to projects with climate co-benefits. By David Lawder for Reuters…
Next secretary-general. Six candidates to replace the current UN secretary-general, António Guterres, have been announced, with more expected in the coming months. This explainer looks at where they each stand on climate change. By Aruna Chandrasekhar and Molly Lempriere for Carbon Brief…
Civic wellbeing. In her new book, “The Common Good Economy: A New Compass,” economist Mariana Mazzucato argues that current economic models have failed us and governments need to craft policies to address inequality and the climate and nature crisis in ways that benefit the common good. By Fiona Harvey for The Guardian…
AI astroturfing. City councils across the US are being flooded with energy policy–related comments. The comments are coming from AI-powered platforms, leaving officials unsure what public opinion actually is. By Todd Woody and Zahra Hirji for Bloomberg Green…
Algal bloom. US president Trump says he’s working hard to rid the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., of the algal bloom that has taken hold there, but he’s ignoring the real causes: pollution and climate change. By Sarah Kaplan at The Washington Post…
Quote of the Week
“Amazing how much coverage the heat — and the symptoms of climate change — is getting on outlets like the BBC, but how little coverage is typically given over to the causes of climate change.”
– Professor Matt Hannon, Director of the Strathclyde Institute for Sustainable Communities
Resources & Events
- “Where does balcony solar stand in your state?” Handy tracker from Canary Media
- “Project Cosmos, the world’s largest database of climate change research” (Carbon Brief)
- “Deforestation lowers threshold for Amazon degradation to below 2°C warming” (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research [PIK])
- “Widening polarization in Americans’ perception of the health harms of climate change (2014–2024)” (IOP Science)
- “Adapting the source of protein in diets to reduce carbon emissions: a UK case study exploring aquaculture” (Environmental Research Food Systems)
- “Public support for climate action is underestimated in the German political domain” (Nature Communications Earth & Environment)
- RSVP: “Fuel on Fire: Reporting El Niño and the True Costs of Climate Change” with 350.org, on Wednesday, July 8, at 11am US Eastern Time (3pm UTC)
- RSVP: “20 years of DeSmog: A celebration of high-impact climate journalism” with DeSmog, on Wednesday, July 8, at 3pm US Eastern Time (7pm UTC)
- RSVP: “Climate Communications Series: Everything Is an Energy Story.” Heatmap Labs and FischTank PR will bring together leading journalists from TIME, Associated Press, and HEATED, on Wednesday, July 15, at 1pm US Eastern Time (6pm UTC).
On the Beat
- Jonah Green talks with data journalist Ben Welsh about the European heatwave on Reuters’s On Assignment podcast. Welsh and Casey Miller built Reuters’s new Climate Monitor, an interactive tool that shows how today’s temperatures compare to the historical record.
- Inside Climate News has launched a sneak preview of its new podcast, Inside Climate, launching July 5.
Missed Connections
In an analysis of the European media coverage of last week’s heatwave, Carbon Beat staff pointed out good coverage highlighting both the dangers of extreme heat and the fact that climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and intense. “Yet,” the authors note, “even amid warnings of ‘killer heat’ approaching 40 [degrees] C, much of the news coverage in UK media was relatively frivolous, often focusing on the positive aspects of the heat.”
Jobs, Etc.
Jobs. ProPublica is hiring a California Reporter (California). Boston 25 News is hiring a Broadcast Meteorologist (Boston, Mass.). ABC affiliate 16WAPT is hiring a Chief Meteorologist (Jackson, Miss.). Village Media is hiring Reporters and Editors in many local markets (various, US). CTV Your Morning Winnipeg is hiring a Weather Anchor (Winnipeg, Canada). The Times-Picayune/The Advocate is hiring an Environmental Reporter (New Orleans, La.). Earth Journalism Network is hiring a Media Manager (remote, US). Our World in Data is hiring for a Writer (remote). STAT is hiring a Trust-in-Science Reporter (Boston, Mass.). Grist and KERA are hiring a Climate, Energy, and Environment Reporter (Dallas, Texas). The World is hiring a Show Editor/Producer (Boston, Mass.). .
Fellowships. Trusting News is accepting applications for a program aimed at helping creator journalists test how they can demonstrate credibility to their audience; apply by July 10. Inside Climate News is accepting applications for its fall 2026 fellowship; apply by August 15.
Call for proposals. Mongabay and Ladera Sur are launching an open call for pitches (Spanish only) for short videos on climate and environmental solutions in Latin America; apply by July 8.
Awards & grants. The Journalism Institute at the National Press Club is accepting submissions for the Pamela Tobey Award for Excellence in Visual Storytelling; apply by July 20. The Net Zero Institute is sponsoring a contest for writers working on a fictional story or series that imagines a regenerative future; apply by August 30.
Workshop. Internews’s Earth Journalism Network is accepting applications for a media workshop on biodiversity reporting in Kenya; apply by July 11.