Simon Stiell said burning fossil fuels was driving intense heatwaves as UK and France broke temperature records on consecutive days

Jon Henley in Paris and Sam Jones in Madrid
Wed 27 May 2026 10.50 EDT

The UN climate chief has said an extreme early heat event sweeping parts of western Europe was “a brutal reminder of the spiralling impacts of the climate crisis”, after France and the UK set new temperature records for May on two consecutive days.

Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said on Wednesday the “main culprit” was humanity’s burning of coal, oil and gas – known to be the primary driver of climate change.

“The science is clear that human-induced climate change is making these heatwaves more frequent and extreme,” Stiell said, as France, Spain and the UK sweltered in temperatures usually associated with July or August.

“Protecting human lives, businesses and economies from extreme heat and the many other soaring costs of climate change is core business for every nation, and it starts with kicking the fossil fuel addiction much faster.”

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