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Planetary Health European Hub Launches Declaration on Heat and Health
After the sharp rise in mortality from the severe heatwaves in Europe during summer 2026, the Planetary Health European Hub has addressed European Union authorities in a Declaration on Heat and Health, calling for a radical shift in ambition and resources.
๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐ด๐ฌ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ: ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐จ ๐บ๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ๐๐๐น๐
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June 2026 was the hottest June ever recorded in Western Europe. Several thousand excess deaths were registered in the peak heatwave week alone, and the toll is still rising โ alongside wildfires and crop losses across the continent.
And yet this is not a failure of planning. Most European countries have heat-health action plans and early warning systems. The EU adopted an Adaptation Strategy in 2021 and declared a climate emergency back in 2019.
We know the danger. Too little is happening.
The European Commission is now preparing the European Climate Resilience Framework, due for adoption at the end of 2026. It will decide whether this summer finally leads to binding obligations โ or to another strategy without consequence.
That is why the European Regional Hub of the Planetary Health Alliance and more than 80 organisations have signed the European Declaration on Heat and Health, calling on the EU to put health at the centre of its climate policy: with legally binding adaptation obligations, measurable health targets, and a European Heat-Health Action Plan with an emergency fund for hospitals, care homes, nurseries and schools.
Heat protection costs money. Not nearly as much as recurring extreme heat.
And we do not exempt ourselves. As a health sector, we must lead by example: with heat plans in our own institutions that protect patients and staff alike.