Europe’s deadliest heatwave on record has killed thousands and sent demand for air conditioners soaring, with Chinese factories working around the clock. WHO reports over 1,300 deaths since June; the WWA group estimates 2,300 across 12 countries. China’s Midea says Western European sales are up over 70 per cent year-on-year, and its easy-install PortaSplit units are being rushed by rail. The surge spotlights a continent unprepared for climate-driven extremes.

The heatwave is part of a pattern that researchers say is now 100 times more likely than in 2003 due to warming at twice the global average rate in Europe. Only 20 per cent of European households have air conditioners, against 90 per cent in the US. French hospitals saw emergency calls rise 40-60 per cent; Paris morgues overflowed. Schools closed, outdoor events were cancelled, and rare street alcohol bans were imposed to ease health service burdens.

The scramble for cooling has deepened Europe’s reliance on Chinese manufacturing, which accounts for roughly 40 per cent of global AC exports. Chinese state-linked media note that even Chinese livestock enjoy refrigerated barns, questioning whether European critics of “overcapacity” could cope without Chinese ACs. The dynamic complicates EU efforts to address a $412 billion trade deficit, as Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic pushes for market access while the bloc imposes new customs duties on low-cost goods.

Viewed from European capitals, a political rift has opened. Right-wing parties accuse governments of sacrificing public health to green ideology. Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland called building standards that discourage AC “climate hysteria” costing lives. France’s National Rally proposes a €20 billion subsidised air-conditioner plan. WHO Europe director Hans Kluge, however, warns that broad AC adoption risks worsening urban heat islands and grid strain, advocating instead a dual strategy of long-term adaptation and targeted cooling for the vulnerable.

The next milestone is October, when Sefcovic visits Beijing seeking “tangible results” on trade imbalances. Paris is meanwhile expanding a district cooling network using Seine water, aiming to triple its reach by 2042. Whether that can keep pace with a warming continent remains an open question, with scientists projecting that heatwaves will become annual events without sharp emissions cuts.