The climate crisis has become a continent-wide economic and security emergency for Europe, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell told the European Parliament.
Stiell said extreme heat, fl oods and droughts were already causing deaths, damaging infrastructure and businesses, disrupting trade and energy supplies, and pushing up food and insurance costs.
He cited an estimate that this summer’s climate extremes could cost Europe around pound 180 billion through lost productivity and disruptions to food, energy and transport.
He warned that Europe’s dependence on volatile fossil-fuel imports was worsening infl ation, raising energy costs and undermining economic and energy security.
Accelerating the transition to clean energy, he said, offers Europe a safer and more affordable path while creating jobs and investment opportunities.
Stiell noted that renewables now provide around half of Europe’s power and that solar energy alone saved more than pound 30 billion in avoided gas imports during the fi rst six months of the Middle East confl ict.
Globally, cleanenergy investment exceeded $2 trillion last year, about twice the level of fossil-fuel investment.
He urged the European Union to maintain its climate leadership and support vulnerable countries, while calling for stronger international cooperation ahead of COP31 in Trkiye.
Current policies put the world on track for around 2.6°C of warming, he said, well above the 1.5°C goal, but concerted action could still bring temperatures back down toward that limi