Europe’s livestock sector faces heatwave reckoning after millions of chickens die

 

by  Joshua Poole

France’s late-June heatwave killed an estimated 2.5 million to 3 million broiler chickens, according to Le Monde, with Brittany among the worst-hit regions. The scale of mortality overwhelmed rendering services and forced authorities to allow emergency on-farm burial in some cases, turning the heatwave into an animal welfare crisis and a logistical emergency for farmers. 

The heatwave’s impact extended beyond France. In Belgium, farmers warned that cows and pigs were suffering heat stress, reducing feed intake, milk yields, and growth rates. The rolling effects are expected to result in losses for dairy and meat production. 

 

The deaths have opened a wider debate over how European livestock farming can protect animals and farmers from climate extremes, while also cutting the emissions that help drive those extremes. 

 

Climate change-driven heatwaves

World Weather Attribution, an international scientific collaboration that studies the influence of climate change on extreme weather events, says this heatwave would have been “virtually impossible” 50 years ago without human-caused climate change.

The organization concluded that climate change is “unequivocally to blame” for its severity. It says a similar heatwave in 1976 would have been about 3.5°C cooler, and that the overnight temperatures experienced in Western Europe in the final week of June are about 100 times more likely today than during the 2003 European heatwave. 

We spoke with World Weather Attribution, which told us that Europe’s infrastructure, including farms and animal housing systems, was largely built for cooler historical conditions. This means Europe’s increasingly frequent heatwaves are a growing concern for animal welfare and livestock farmers.

 

Heatwave hell for farmed animals

Last year, Compassion in World Farming released a report on how climate change-linked extreme weather impacts farmed animals. The report says that heat stress can seriously harm livestock, causing breathing and heart problems, dehydration, weaker immunity, reduced fertility, lower milk production — and in severe cases, death.

“Factory farming contributes significantly to climate change, and, as temperatures rise, animals trapped in factory farms suffer even more,” Compassion in World Farming tells Food Ingredients First. “Millions of animals are confined in overcrowded sheds, left without enough water, and transported in vehicles where temperatures can become dangerously high.”

Brittany’s agriculture authority has reported significant deaths as a result of June’s heatwave, mainly on poultry farms. It has fast-tracked burial exemptions for farms hit by mass poultry or pig mortalities and expects a return to “normal collection and processing capacities” in early July.

 

European Livestock Voice responds

We also spoke with Anton van den Brink, chair of European Livestock Voice, a Brussels-based livestock-sector coalition. Van den Brink accepts that the livestock sector is both vulnerable to climate-driven heatwaves and a contributor to the emissions driving them.

“But the discussion needs to be fair and practical,” he tells us. He refers to a leaked draft of the EU Livestock Strategy, expected to be published this week, which suggests EU livestock accounts for 8% of total emissions in the EU (66% of agricultural emissions), around 4% of global agriculture emissions, and less than 1% of global total emissions.

“Livestock farmers are on the frontline of climate change: heatwaves directly affect animal welfare, productivity, farm workers, feed availability, and farm economics. At the same time, livestock production has emissions, and the sector accepts its responsibility to reduce them,” says van den Brink.

The transition to more sustainable livestock farming should be done, van den Brink says, through innovation, efficiency, and investment — not by pushing production out of Europe. “The worst outcome would be to weaken European farmers, while increasing imports from regions with lower standards,” he says.

 

 Preparing for future heatwaves

Compassion in World Farming has called for robust emergency protections ahead of further heatwaves. These include reliable access to water, lower stocking densities, good ventilation, and restrictions on transporting animals during extreme heat.

Commercial broiler farming, it adds, should urgently transition to slower-growing breeds, which are more resilient in higher temperatures.

 ¨Although these measures will help in the short term, the long-term solution is to move away from factory farming toward higher-welfare, more resilient farming systems that are better for animals, people, and the planet,” the NGO says

 

For European Livestock Voice, the question is how to support a more adaptable, lower-emission livestock sector.

“Adaptation has to become part of everyday farm management. This includes better ventilation and cooling systems, shade, access to water, adjusted feeding strategies, heat-resilient housing design, early-warning systems, contingency planning, and investment in animal health and welfare monitoring,” says van den Brink.

 

Costly business for farmers

However, transitioning to more climate-resilient farming is expensive, cautions van den Brink.

“Farmers cannot be expected to carry the full burden alone, especially when many are already under severe economic pressure. Public policy must support investment in climate-resilient farms through targeted funding, faster permits, practical guidance, and research that works under real farm conditions.”

He says a “sensible approach” includes improving feed efficiency, animal health, breeding, manure management, renewable energy use, precision farming, and circular use of resources.

The deaths in France reveal that extreme heat is testing the limits of Europe’s livestock systems. The question now is whether farms can adapt quickly enough to protect animals and farmers, while also reducing the sector’s contribution to the warming that is making such heatwaves more severe.

Why the French are painting their windows with chalk to beat the heat

 

by Sophie Hardach

 

A simple, low-tech remedy may help cool homes. Here's the science behind the trend.

As record-breaking heat sweeps over France, some shops are running out of a simple, cheap and unexpected product – crushed chalk.

Known as Blanc de Meudon, or Meudon whiting, it is normally used to make paints or as a cleaning product. But faced with punishing temperatures, there are reports that ingenious people have been using the chalky material as a home remedy against the heat, covering windows in schools and private homes.

Mixed with water, then painted on glass, the result is a milky, whitish coating that lets in some light but reflects the heat. And a growing body of research suggests that there may be some solid science behind the DIY cooling hack.

 With heatwaves growing ever more frequent and intense due to rising global temperatures – and posing a particular danger to populations in cities – could a simple lick of white paint help people cope better when it hots up?

 

Radiative cooling

White paint – on walls and roofs, usually – is widely known to have a cooling effect. Generally speaking, white surfaces reflect sunlight and heat, while dark surfaces absorb it. This principle can be used to cool buildings and cities. Commercially available white paint on a surface can reduce temperatures on the other side by at least 1.7C (3F) compared to the ambient temperature at noon.

Paints specially developed to maximise cooling, such as ultra-white paint, have been shown to reduce the indoor temperature by several degrees by not only reflecting sunlight but also shedding heat through a process know as "radiative cooling".

One study of ultra-white paint found it could reflect up to 98.1% of sunlight, while a previous formulation reflected 95.5% of sunlight. Another study showed that combining it with a layer of ultra-black paint underneath could lower daytime temperatures by up to 7.6C (14F).

 One of the reasons why chalk might be effective, however, lies in the properties of its main component, calcium carbonate, which is not only highly reflective but also resistant to solar radiation. This property has led some researchers to use nanoparticles of calcium carbonate in new kinds of "super cool" paint.

 

"These kinds of particles are widely used in radiative cooling paint, also in our super cool paint," says Jiashuo Wang, a student at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, who is part of a team working on cooling paint.

Chalk has also been used as a coating for fabric that keeps the wearer cool. Particles of calcium carbonate – the main ingredient in chalk – are good at reflecting ultraviolet and near-infrared light (the portion of sunlight that transmits heat).

In addition, chalk is considered to be relatively benign in terms of its health and environmental impact – though there may be some risks to respiratory health from indoor chalk use, and inhaling particles.

Blanc de Meudon, or Meudon whiting, is helping the French stay cool this summer (Credit: Getty Images)

White windows and 'le cool roofing'

According to French media reports, demand for Blanc de Meudon is leading to stock shortages around the country as people struggle against temperatures of more than 40C (104F).

 

Blanc de Meudon is traditionally used to whiten shop windows during renovations or by gardeners in their greenhouses. But after the chalk-paint trick circulated on social media, demand for the product soared, French newspapers report.

"We'd known about the idea for a while, we talked about it during the last heatwave but forgot to buy any," Ouest France quotes a shopper called Philippe. "Now it's too late! It's sold out everywhere!"

Some French schools have also used the chalk paint on their windows, though an official warned that it's "not a miracle solution" and that properly insulated roofs are needed instead.

People have also whitened the windows of their apartments.

The chalk, as well as white paint more generally, is cheap. And unlike air conditioning, which worsens the overall heat effect and emissions problem by consuming energy and releasing heat outside, paint only uses energy when it's produced.

 

More like this:

• The white roofs cooling Indian slums

• The simple ways cities can adapt to heatwaves

• How to exercise safely in hot weather 

White-painted cool roofs – also known as "le cool roofing" in France – are also getting more attention there as a sustainable, low-tech way of combating extreme heat. The idea taps into a long tradition in many southern parts of Europe, such as Greece, of painting houses white to ward off the heat. 

One study suggests that cool roofs – roofs painted white or with reflective coating – could have cooled London "by about 0.8C (1.4F) on average during a heatwave, preventing the heat-related deaths of an estimated 249 people". (Read about how women in India are using white paint to cool their homes.) 

 

For those interested in another home remedy, there is an alternative: yoghurt. An experiment by researchers in the UK found that the indoor temperature of a house with yoghurt-painted windows was on average 0.6C (1.08F) cooler. They found that a thin film of the dairy product could lead to rooms being up to 3.5C (6.3F) cooler when it was "hot and sunny". While a smelly solution at first, the odour apparently disappears quickly as the yoghurt paint dries.

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France restricts public drinking as Europe swelters under a ‘heat-dome driven furnace’ for the second time in two months

 

A woman on the Trocadero square near the Eiffel Tower as temperatures rise in Paris during a second heatwave affecting a large part of France, on June 20, 2026. Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters

Homem mergulha em fonte perto da Torre Eiffel, em Paris, na França, em meio a onda de calor histórica no país europeu, en 22 de junho de 2026. — Foto: Abdul Saboor/ Reuters 

 

Franceses às margens do Canal Saint-Martin, em Paris, onde o banho foi liberado — Foto: REUTERS/Alice Sacco

 

by  Laura Paddison 

 

Europe is sweltering under its second heat dome in two months, with temperatures spiking above 104 degrees Fahrenheit, bringing dangerous conditions across swaths of the planet’s fastest-warming continent. France banned public alcohol consumption, Spain closed a World Cup fan zone and the UK is bracing for an annihilation of its all-time June temperature record.

Heat alerts were posted Monday by 26 countries, from Ireland to Greece, as soaring temperatures deliver one of Western Europe’s worst June heat waves on record.

The punishing temperatures are the result of a heat dome parked over the continent for the second time in two months. Heat domes are persistent high-pressure systems which act like a lid on a pot, trapping hot air and pushing it downward. The heat waves also come as a strengthening El Niño takes shape in the tropical Pacific. This natural climate pattern is known to increase the frequency and severity of heat extremes worldwide.

Scientists say these kinds of heat waves are becoming more severe and more frequent as humans continue to burn fossil fuels and heat the planet. 

 Extreme heat can quickly become dangerous and even deadly, especially on a continent where very few people have air conditioning. Only about 20% of European homes have AC, compared to around 90% in the United States. 

 

In France, the blistering heat has been unrelenting. More than half of its 96 regions were under red heat wave alerts Sunday, the most severe level. Temperatures reached above 104 degrees Fahrenheit in some parts of the country.

The heat was so intense Sunday, the government banned public alcohol drinking at Fête de la musique, an annual music festival which takes place across the country and brings millions onto the streets. The ban applied to regions under red heat wave alerts.

“For ‌all ⁠events organized by the state and its agencies, instructions have been given not to offer alcohol,” the Prime Minister’s office said in a statement. 

 Monday is set to be even hotter, with temperatures rising to more than 107 degrees Fahrenheit in some places. The government has ordered the closure of more than 800 schools, according to a report in the Associated Press.

 

Monday could be France’s hottest day on record for any month, and there is little chance of respite; temperatures are expected to reach “a very high plateau” until at least Thursday, Météo-France said. On Monday, at least four locations in France set all-time high temperature records for any month of the year, while other locations broke June records.

“This heatwave will be quite comparable in severity to the one in August 2003. It is expected to surpass it in terms of maximum intensity,” Météo France said Monday, referring to a deadly 16-day heat wave that killed nearly 15,000 people.

Other parts of Europe are also set to endure unprecedented heat. In the United Kingdom, temperatures are forecast to reach at least 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit Wednesday, according to the country’s Met Office, which would smash the UK’s all-time heat record for June of 96.08 degrees Fahrenheit, last recorded in 1976. Humidity levels will be high, making the heat even more oppressive.

The Met Office issued a rare “Red Extreme Heat Warning” for Wednesday and Thursday. 

 The country will also endure tropical nights, where temperatures don’t dip below 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Nighttime heat is particularly pernicious as it gives people little chance to rest and recover. 

 

Scientists have sounded the alarm on the extent of the UK’s heat wave. It means two consecutive months “in which the UK temperature records have been annihilated by well over 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit),” said Liz Bentley, chief executive at the Royal Meteorological Society.

“This is not just a heatwave, it is a heat-dome driven furnace that will grip most of southern UK and push temperatures into truly exceptional territory,” said Akshay Deoras, a meteorologist at the University of Reading. 

 

Termômetro em Rennes, no oeste da França, em 22 de junho de 2026. — Foto: Jeremias González/ AP

Parts of Spain are sweltering under triple digit temperatures and tropical nights. On the Almería coast in southeastern Spain, nighttime temperatures Sunday into Monday didn’t drop below 86 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the country’s weather service AEMET.

In Madrid, a fan zone set up with big screens for people to watch the World Cup was closed Sunday due to the heat, according to Reuters.

Monday is set to be extremely hot again, AEMET posted on X, adding “the danger is significant in much of the country.” 

A woman seen reading in the Ciutadella Park sheltered from the sun in a comfortable area in Barcelona, Spain, on June 2. SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

 

Heat is often called a silent killer. It lacks the visible destruction of a hurricane, flood or wildfire, yet it’s the deadliest type of extreme weather. Extreme temperatures, especially when combined with high humidity, make sweating and other mechanisms people rely on to cool down become less effective.

Heat and humidity are increasingly reaching levels the human body struggles to cope with. Extreme temperatures have killed more than 200,000 people over the past four years, according to the World Health Organization. 

 Scientists warn these types of extreme heat waves will only become more common as the planet heats up. “Human-driven climate change has provided the springboard for this event, loading the atmosphere with extra heat and making extreme temperatures far more intense than they would have been in the past,” Deoras said. 

 Andrew Freedman contributed to this report.

US heat dome causes dangerous conditions for more than 100 million people. High temperatures and humidity across north-eastern coast increase risk of heat exhaustion, illnesses and death

 

The view of New York City from along the riverfront amid an extreme heat warning, in Hoboken, New Jersey on 25 July 2025. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

Nina Lakhani

 

More than a 100 million people in the US will face dangerous conditions over the weekend as a heat dome which has scorched much of the center of the country nudges eastward.

Heat advisories were in place on Friday all across the north-eastern coast from Portland, Maine to Wilmington, North Carolina, with the daytime heat index temperatures 10 to 15F above average in some places.

Overnight temperatures will also be very warm and oppressively muggy, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

While thunderstorms, some of them severe, are expected to break the heat by Friday night for the north-east, heat and humidity will continue to build further south with the most persistent and dangerous conditions expected across the south-east and Tennessee Valley this weekend.

 

The heat index is what the temperature feels like when humidity is taken into account. New York City is forecast to swelter under a 106F heat index on Friday afternoon – slightly higher than Phoenix, Arizona, the hottest major city in the US.

In the south-east, the heat index could exceed 115F, risking the health and lives of people without access to sufficient cooling and/or adequate hydration, the NWS warned. “This will be a long duration heat wave, with little to no overnight relief and high humidity levels, leading to an increased danger,” the federal service warned.

High temperatures and high humidity increase the risk of heat exhaustion, heat illnesses and death, with children, older people and those with existing physical and mental health conditions at highest risk. Outdoor workers – gardeners, builders, farmers, and delivery workers – along with unhoused people and those with substance use issues are particularly vulnerable.

A heat dome is a particular weather phenomenon where hot air is trapped over a region by a stalled high-pressure system causing high temperatures on the ground. With little cloud cover due to the stuck high-pressure system, the sun’s rays directly hit the ground, further increasing the heat.

While heat domes cause heatwaves – which are becoming more frequent thanks to the climate crisis – there can be heatwaves without heat domes. Climate scientists have found that heat domes are getting hotter due to global heating caused by humans burning fossil fuels.

And while the latest dome in the US is moving slowly, it continues to cause dangerous conditions in parts of the mid-south to mid-Mississippi Valley, with heat alerts still in place from Oklahoma to West Virginia.

In the so-called corn belt, the midwestern and some southern states where most corn is farmed, a phenomenon known as corn sweat exacerbates the humidity, and can increase the heat index by as much as 10F. This is due to the pores on the underside of maize leaves, where oxygen – and water vapor – are released, Justin Glisan , state climatologist of Iowa, said in an interview with CBS News.

Meteorologists have also forecast flash flooding from north-east Kansas to much of Indiana, as well as possible scattered thunderstorms across parts of New England, the northern Mid-Atlantic, and North Dakota. Meanwhile dry, windy conditions have triggered a red flag wildfire warning for parts of Utah and Oregon.

Spain records temperature of 46C as Europe heatwave continues

 

by 

Danai Nesta Kupemba

BBC News

 

 

A heatwave continues to grip large parts of Europe, with authorities in many countries issuing health warnings amid searing temperatures.

Southern Spain is the worst-affected region, with temperatures in the mid-40s Celsius recorded in Seville and neighbouring areas.

A new heat record for June of 46C was set on Saturday in the town of El Granado, according to Spain's national weather service, which also said this month is on track to be the hottest June on record.

Red heat warnings are in force in parts of Portugal, Italy and Croatia, with numerous amber warnings covering areas of Spain, France, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland. 

 

In Barcelona, a woman died after completing a shift as a road sweeper on Saturday, when temperatures were very high. Local authorities are investigating her death.

In Italy, emergency departments across the country have reported an uptick in heatstroke cases, mainly affecting "elderly people, cancer patients, or homeless people", Mario Guarino, vice president of the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine told the AFP news agency.

Hospitals such as the Ospedale dei Colli in Naples have set up dedicated heatstroke pathways to speed up access to vital treatments such as cold water immersion.

The city of Bologna further to the north has set up seven climate shelters with air conditioning and drinking water, while Rome has offered free access to city swimming pools for those over 70.

Tourists cool off under a cloud of mist in Valencia, Spain on Sunday

A pharmacist in Portugal's capital Lisbon told Reuters news agency that, despite telling people "not to go out" during the hottest hours of the day, "we have already had some cases of heat strokes and burns".

The severe heat has also affected countries across the western Balkans where temperatures have reached in excess of 40C.

Serbia registered its highest-ever temperature since it began recording them in the 19th century. In Slovenia, the hottest-ever June temperature was recorded on Saturday.

North Macedonia is also sweltering as temperatures reached 42C on Friday. 

 

More hot weather to come

Some areas will continue to get hotter until the middle of the week, with temperatures rising across France, Germany, Italy and the UK over the next few days.

Yellow and amber alerts are in place for parts of England this weekend, and temperatures in London may reach 35C on Monday.

The heat has been building under a big area of high pressure, with dry air descending and warming.

As that process has continued over a number of days, temperatures have climbed. The area of high pressure will move eastwards over the next few days – taking the high temperatures northwards and eastwards with it.

While it is hard to link individual extreme weather events to climate change, heatwaves are becoming more common and more intense due to climate change.

Scientists at World Weather Attribution, who analyse the influence of climate change on extreme weather events, say June heatwaves with three consecutive days above 28C are about 10 times more likely to occur now compared to pre-industrial times.

Additional reporting by BBC Weather, Guy DeLauney and Guy Hedgecoe