EU chief promises new 'heatwave plan' after deadly summer

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday Brussels will put forward a "heatwave plan" to better respond to extreme weather after record temperatures scorched the bloc this summer.

In a keynote speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen said that Europe's future depended on how it manages the twin challenges of climate change and artificial intelligence.

"There can be no repeat of this summer. This is why we will also soon present a European Heatwave Plan," the European Commission president told lawmakers in the annual State of the European Union address.

"We need better early warning systems and better health preparedness. We need urban adaptation and cooling. And we need to support the most vulnerable," she said.

Multiple back-to-back summer heatwaves fuelled by climate change caused more than 30,000 excess deaths across Europe as well as widespread drought.

More than 1,000 wildfires torched some 540,000 hectares of land across the EU since mid-June -- more than twice the size of Luxembourg -- forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, particularly in Spain and France.

Temperature records across the continent were smashed, triggering dangerous blazes even in normally cool, wet areas such as Belgium and Scotland.