Germany has reported 5,120 deaths linked to extreme heat, most of which occurred in June 2026, according to the Robert Koch Institute. The country experienced weekly average temperatures well above 20 degrees Celsius. The Copernicus Climate Change Service stated that June 2026 was the hottest month in Western Europe’s recorded history, with global temperatures reaching the second-highest level ever observed.

The European Union’s climate monitoring service attributed the abnormal heatwave to continuous warming across land and oceans, pushing the global average surface air temperature to 16.54 degrees Celsius. Western Europe’s average temperature of 20.74 degrees was three degrees higher than the 1991–2020 June average. The heatwave also caused power disruptions and school closures in several countries.

Authorities across France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands reported over 4,700 additional deaths between June 20 and 28, while wildfires and drought intensified in Iberia and France. The World Meteorological Organization warned that greenhouse gas emissions from coal, oil, and gas combustion have raised global temperatures by about 1.4 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial era, with further increases expected.