People spend time at Washington Square Park during hot weather in New York City, US, on June 29, 2026. New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani activated the city's Heat Emergency Plan as dangerously high temperatures were forecast to affect the city. Photo: VCG

Record-breaking heatwaves have engulfed multiple countries in Europe in recent weeks, and now North America is facing its turn, with a heat dome driving dangerous temperatures across much of Canada while 160 million people in 30 American states under alert for extreme temperatures. The US Department of Energy has declared an emergency as a heatwave bears down on a huge part of the nation's electrical grid, media reported on Thursday.

New York City's intense heatwave officially began as temps hit the mid-30 C Wednesday - and forecasters say the Big Apple is on its way to a possible 37 C for the first time since 2012 later this week, according to New York Post.

Meanwhile, Europe has just sweltered through its most severe and widespread heatwave on record, affecting more than 150 million people, per the Guardian. Spain has attributed 1,028 excess deaths to a blistering heatwave that hit Europe last week - a figure more than double the number of heat-related deaths recorded the previous year.

The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) on Thursday forecast that China will experience four phases of high-temperature weather across many regions in July. According to climate model simulations and projections, the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events in China are expected to continue increasing in the future.

The administration warned the public to pay attention to heatwave alerts, use cooling devices such as air conditioners rationally, and avoid excessive outdoor activities.

As many countries are grappling with increasingly hot summers, governments' ability to respond to extreme weather is also coming under public scrutiny. Experts argue that early investment in climate adaptation and forward-looking state planning not only give China an advantage in coping with extreme weather, but also enable the country to deliver more people-focused public response solutions.

Government preparedness 

With temperatures soaring across Europe, WHO Europe chief Hans Kluge last week called on governments to recognize extreme heat as a health crisis and strengthen health system preparedness.

"Recognise extreme heat as a health crisis and act before temperatures peak," Kluge wrote in a post on X on June 29. "Heat preparedness must be operational: freeing beds, protecting high-risk patients, securing cooling, checking backup power and supporting health workers," he added.

In France, the country's Green party lawmakers have announced plans to file a no-confidence motion against the government over its handling of a severe heatwave, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

In Germany, critics say leaders need to do more for climate change adaption. Policymakers disagree on who's responsible to prepare Germany for extreme temperatures - the federal government or municipalities, Deutsche Welle reported.

Europe's recent record-breaking heatwaves demonstrate that extreme heat is a systemic multiplier of vulnerability, in other words, climate adaptation should not be seen as just an environmental portfolio, but as an integrated, multi-sector endeavor, Douglas De Castro, a professor of international law at the School of Law, Lanzhou University, told the Global Times.

In contrast to the West, where responses are often based on localized municipal budgets or post-disaster reactive adaptation, China's approach to climate resilience is one of top-down, proactive state planning, represented by, for example, China's National Strategy on Climate Change Adaptation 2035, which embeds climate resilience across ministries, De Castro said. 

Issued in 2022, the strategy detailed measures to boost China's climate change monitoring and risk prevention capabilities for adapting to climate change. By 2035, the country's climate change monitoring and early warning capability will reach an advanced level globally, while the climate risk management and prevention system will basically mature, according to the document.

An article titled "Extreme Weather Will Upend US-China Competition" published by Foreign Affairs on Tuesday highlighted China's preparations for climate adaptation. 

The article cited a World Resources Institute study saying that "every dollar invested in climate adaptation and resilience can generate more than $10.50 in benefits over 10 years. Today, China is investing far more than the United States in these kinds of measures. If the United States does not do more to protect the sources of its national power from the extreme weather to come, its economic competitiveness could suffer ever more severe blows."

When asked how China plans to cope with increasingly severe heatwaves, Yuan Jiashuang, Vice Director of the National Climate Centre of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), said on Thursday that it is a priority to enhance cities' precise heatwave warning capabilities and continuously strengthen early-warning technologies, Beijing News reported. 

Yuan also said that factors such as climate change adaptation and city's resilience should be fully taken into consideration in urban planning, construction, and related processes. He also urged the establishment of a city-level risk management system to address climate-related disasters.

People-centered approach 

As Europe swelters under relentless heatwaves, demand for cooling products from air conditioners (ACs) and portable fans to sun umbrellas is surging, with some Chinese AC makers seeing sales in certain European countries such as France jumping as much as over 300 percent, while portable fans and other cooling devices are seeing similarly strong momentum across the continent.

"The customer puts on the hat. Two small fans attached on either side of the visor begin blowing air onto his face as the merchant records a video on his phone. Minutes later, the footage appears on TikTok, accompanied by comments from European users asking where to buy this strange Chinese invention," Spanish media outlet El Mundo reported. 

However, CNBC has associated Europe's surging need for China's cooling devices with the timing of China and the EU officially launching a trade and investment consultation mechanism in Brussels early this week. The media outlet said that "Brussels aims to reduce its trade deficit with China by October, just as an historic heat wave sends locals rushing to buy Chinese-made air conditioners."

An X-user under the name of christineza (@chris774923) posted that "Europeans don't want a trade war with China, they want ACs made by a Chinese company, desperately."

While some European policymakers continue to criticize China for alleged "dumping" of renewable energy technologies and green products, the recent heatwaves have also exposed structural vulnerabilities across the continent, Chen Hong, director of the Country and Region Studies Institute, School of Foreign Languages, East China Normal University, told the Global Times.

In the face of intensifying heatwaves, those capable of delivering reliable, low-carbon, and affordable cooling solutions are ultimately the ones meeting genuine public demand. By contrast, labelling such demand as "dumping" while failing to provide viable, cost-effective alternatives risks leaving European households, particularly the elderly and low-income workers, to absorb the consequences, said Chen. 



Li Shuxuan also contributed to the story