Europe heatwave is 'price to pay for fossil fuel pollution': UN

PARIS, June 25 (Agencies): The heatwave scorching Europe has the fingerprints of climate change all over it and is "the latest price to pay for fossil fuel pollution baking our planet," UN climate chief Simon Stiell said Thursday.
Europe has endured extreme heat this week, with record-breaking temperatures in France, Britain and Spain and other countries issuing high-level heat alerts.
"Europe's savage heatwave has the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it - it's the latest price to pay for fossil fuel pollution baking our planet," Stiell said in a statement.
"Until humanity stops burning colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas, extreme heat will keep getting worse," he said.
Meanwhile, a day after France hit record high temperatures, a court in Paris is set to rule Thursday on a landmark climate change case that could see energy giant TotalEnergies forced to reduce its oil and gas production.
The lawsuit, brought by a group of NGOs and the city of Paris, argues the French corporation is violating a 2017 law that requires companies to prevent human rights abuses and environmental risks. It is the first time that the so-called corporate duty of vigilance law is being applied to climate change.
Environmental groups Notre Affaire à Tous, Sherpa, ZEA, France Nature Environnement launched the proceedings in 2020.
They claim that TotalEnergies is one of the largest historical emitters of greenhouse gas and have asked the court to require the company to reduce oil production by 37 percent and gas production by 25 percent by 2030. The lawsuit also asks for a halt to all new fossil fuel projects.
The decision comes as Europe is in the midst of a brutal heatwave. Punishing temperatures extended to the United Kingdom and Spain, where weather agencies issued red alerts - like France - about the risks of extreme heat for tens of millions of people.
The iconic Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum have been forced to restrict visiting hours and school and transportation schedules have been interrupted across the continent.
Human-caused climate change is tied to increasingly extreme weather, and U.N. climate agency projections say the next five years are likely to shatter more heat records.