The ongoing illegal war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran has already cost the US more than US$100 billion in direct military spending and related economic losses. However, this figure captures only a fraction of the conflict’s true toll.

Beyond the immediate fiscal burden on governments, the war has triggered global energy market volatility, inflated basic living costs, disrupted international trade, and caused immense human suffering. These compounding impacts expose a fundamental vulnerability: the world’s continued dependence on fossil fuels transforms regional crises into severe global economic and humanitarian shocks.

Human losses and the humanitarian crisis in Iran and the wider Middle East

While financial statistics dominate economic debates, the most severe cost of the conflict is human. Beyond the geopolitical and market disruptions, the US‑Israeli war on Iran has inflicted widespread destruction across the region. Direct military bombardment has led to  thousands of civilian and military casualties, shattering families and leaving deep, generational trauma.

The systematic destruction of housing, schools, and essential civic infrastructure has forced millions onto perilous displacement routes, crowding families into under-resourced shelters. Compounding this crisis, targeted damage to critical power grids, water treatment plants, and regional hospitals has left entire populations cut off from clean drinking water, electricity, and emergency healthcare. As basic lifelines collapse, the conflict rapidly transforms from a regional war into a catastrophic, full-scale humanitarian emergency.

The Pentagon’s bill is only the beginning

The war has already cost US taxpayers more than US$100 billion, according to Fortune. On 21 July, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress that military operations against Iran had reached US$37.5 billion, and the Pentagon has requested an additional US$67.1 billion to further fund the operation. All this while making massive cuts to funding for healthcare and clean energy. 

While substantial, this figure measures only the direct military expenditure. It omits the far larger economic toll borne by global businesses, public finances, and households coping with energy shocks and inflation.

The Strait of Hormuz: a fossil fuel chokepoint at the heart of the Iran energy shock

The conflict has re-emphasised the strategic vulnerability of the Strait of Hormuz. Updated data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) indicates that 20.9 million barrels of oil per day roughly one-fifth of global petroleum consumption passed through the Strait in the first half of 2025. The corridor is equally vital for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, particularly from Qatar.

Because a massive portion of global energy flows through this single maritime bottleneck, even the threat of disruption impacts the global economy. Heightened geopolitical risk instantly spikes oil prices, shipping insurance rates, and transport costs. The economic consequences of the war extend beyond energy prices and trade disruptions. 

As risks in the Strait of Hormuz intensified, major maritime insurers repriced or withdrew war-risk cover, while Lloyd’s expanded its high-risk designation to the entire Persian Gulf. According to the World Economic Forum, shipping traffic through the Strait fell by around 95%, prompting the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to establish a US$40 billion reinsurance facility to help restore maritime trade. The episode illustrates how governments are increasingly acting as insurers of last resort when geopolitical risks exceed the capacity of private markets.

Higher food prices, a deepening cost of living crisis and windfall fossil fuel profits

Rising energy prices rapidly ripple through every sector of the economy. Agriculture still relies heavily on fossil fuels for machinery, fertilizer production, irrigation, and shipping. Consequently, high oil prices directly drive up the cost of food, hitting lower-income households hardest.

While consumers bear the burden of inflation, major energy corporations reap massive profits from market instability. Greenpeace estimates that during the initial phase of the conflict:

• Top 100 oil and gas companies: earned an estimated additional US$30m or more in profit per hour during the first month.
  
• Projected revenue: with oil hovering near US$100 per barrel, major producers such as Saudi Aramco, Gazprom and ExxonMobil could generate an additional US$234bn in profits by the end of 2026.
  
• Corporate earnings surge: Shell reported US$6.9bn in first‑quarter profits, more than double the previous quarter. Four major European firms, Shell, TotalEnergies, BP and Equinor, reported over US$18bn in adjusted post‑tax earnings in Q1 2026, an 80% quarter‑on‑quarter increase.

This is fossilflation in action, a cost of living crisis driven by fossil fuel price shocks, where households worldwide pay through higher bills while oil and gas giants turn war‑fuelled chaos into windfall profits.

Trade disruptions, global economic risks and fossilflation

Energy markets are not the only sector under strain; major shipping routes have faced severe operational shifts. Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb Strait disruptions since late 2023 forced maritime carriers to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope, adding up to 6,000 kilometers per voyage and up to 38% more CO2, in routes like from Shanghai to Hamburg. 

• Hourly economic damage: Germany’s parliamentary research service estimated losses in 2023 of up to €360m per hour due to extended transit times, higher fuel burn, increased labour costs, port congestion and supply chain delays.
  
• Flow reductions: route shifts have severely curtailed the share of global oil trade and liquefied natural gas trade that historically passed through the Red Sea and Suez Canal.

Looking ahead, the World Bank’s chief economist has warned that a prolonged escalation could slow global economic growth to 1.3% and drive global inflation up to 4.5% under a severe disruption scenario. In other words, the more we depend on oil and gas, the more war and instability anywhere becomes an economic crisis everywhere.

Climate, security and peace: how fossil fuel dependence creates strategic risk

The US‑Israeli war on Iran  highlights that fossil fuel dependence is not only a climate challenge; it is also a security challenge. The global reliance on oil and gas creates strategic vulnerabilities by concentrating energy supplies in regions exposed to geopolitical tensions and by making economies sensitive to disruptions in a limited number of production sites and transport routes.

Military conflicts involving fossil fuel-producing regions often create a cycle of insecurity: dependence on oil and gas increases geopolitical competition; conflicts then trigger energy price shocks, inflation and economic instability; and the resulting uncertainty can delay investment in cleaner and more resilient energy systems.

The environmental consequences of war also add to the long-term costs. Military operations require large amounts of fossil fuels, while damage to energy infrastructure can release pollutants and greenhouse gases. Reconstruction after conflict often requires energy-intensive materials such as steel and cement, potentially locking economies into additional fossil fuel demand.

Reducing fossil fuel dependence should therefore be understood not only as a climate policy, but also as a strategy for strengthening energy security, reducing exposure to geopolitical shocks and improving economic resilience.

War’s hidden environmental cost: how geopolitics wrecks the Earth and deepens injustice

Beneath the geopolitical headlines, an environmental crisis is unfolding across the Middle East as military conflict and extreme climate vulnerability reinforce one another in a region warming at twice the global average rate.

Resource scarcity such as water insecurity, and destruction of farmland worsen pre-existing displacement crises, forcing millions more people from their homes into severe climate and economic vulnerability. With desalination plants supplying over two-thirds of the region’s water, targeted strikes on facilities and reservoirs spanning Iran’s Qeshm Island to sites in Bahrain and the UAE have cut off clean drinking water for tens of thousands of civilians.

At the same time, heavy bombardments targeting oil depots and refineries, including Tehran’s Shahran and Shahr-e Rey facilities, threaten public health by leaching toxic pollutants directly into local air, soil, and waterways.

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This environmental breakdown is compounded by severe financial and atmospheric costs that further undermine long-term stability. Over US$58bn in destroyed energy infrastructure alongside US$600m per day in lost tourism revenue are forcing regional governments to divert critical capital away from water management, renewable energy, and climate adaptation.

Furthermore, the first two weeks of military operations alone produced an estimated 5m tonnes of CO₂ exceeding the annual carbon footprint of 84 nations combined. Ultimately, climate resilience cannot be built in a vacuum, as peace and geopolitical stability remain essential prerequisites for environmental adaptation and human survival.

Breaking the cycle: energy independence, renewables and a just transition

The Iran war demonstrates that the transition away from fossil fuels is increasingly an economic and security priority. Renewable energy, energy efficiency and electrification can reduce exposure to volatile international fossil fuel markets and decrease dependence on politically vulnerable supply routes.

Unlike oil and gas, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar rely primarily on domestic resources rather than imported fuels. Expanding renewable electricity generation, strengthening electricity grids, improving energy efficiency and accelerating electrification of transport, buildings and industry can help protect economies from future energy price shocks. The benefits extend beyond climate mitigation. Reduced fossil fuel dependence can lower energy import bills, improve trade balances, create more predictable energy costs for businesses and households, and reduce the economic leverage created by concentrated fossil fuel supplies.

The lesson from the US‑Israeli war on Iran is that energy security in the 21st century is not achieved by securing access to more fossil fuels; it is achieved by reducing dependence on them.

Reducing fossil fuel reliance is ultimately an essential investment in global stability, human security, and economic resilience. In the meantime, an immediate ceasefire and a return to diplomacy are urgently required to stop further civilian loss, prevent regional destruction, and pave the way for sustainable global security, economic stability and a just peace rooted in climate and social justice.

Fawad Durrani is an expert on climate change, conflict and migration at Greenpeace Germany.

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I am Māori, the original people of New Zealand. And, as Māori, we are shaped by principles like whakapapa (our ancestral lineage and connection to all things) and utu (the obligation to restore balance when harm is caused). We are connected to te taiao (the natural world) not as owners, but as part of a beautiful and delicate web of life.

I have spent most of my adult life involved in struggles for justice. For years, I have been locked in a legal battle against six of New Zealand’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the agriculture and energy sectors: Genesis Energy, Dairy Holdings, New Zealand Steel, Channel Infrastructure and BT Mining. This case includes the world’s biggest dairy exporter, Fonterra and a major fuel supplier, Z Energy who together with the other companies are responsible for about a third of the country’s total climate emissions.

Smith v Fonterra

The core argument behind my case has always been that if corporations knowingly contribute to dangerous climate harm, then surely there must be some legal mechanism to hold them accountable. I don’t think this is a radical proposition, and nor do most people. Courts exist precisely to examine difficult questions where public harm and private power intersect.

In 2024, we won a historic victory. The Supreme Court of New Zealand unanimously ruled that my case could go to a full trial. It was a massive breakthrough for global climate litigation. Our trial was locked in for April 2027.

But corporate power does not accept defeat quietly. Fearing the evidence that would come out in an open courtroom, these big polluters bypassed the public and went straight through the back door to the highest office in the land.

New Zealand Parliament proposes to ban climate tort cases 

The New Zealand government is now rushing through the Climate Change Response (Tort Liability) Amendment Bill – a law effectively ghostwritten by the polluters themselves.

This proposed law bans citizens from suing heavy polluters for climate damage, and it applies retrospectively to kill my court case before it can even start.  The government has stepped in to rewrite the law, specifically to protect the country’s biggest climate polluters. By doing this, they are shutting the courtroom doors in the faces of ordinary people.

This decision strikes at the foundations of democracy. It raises profound questions about the rule of law, the separation of powers, and whether ordinary citizens can still seek justice when their interests clash with those of politically influential industries.

The people v politically influential industries

The question that comes sharply into focus is Who holds power, and who is forced to live with the consequences of decisions made by that power?

We hold obligations to those who came before us, and to those who will come after us. That worldview stands in direct conflict with political systems that treat the environment as expendable whenever profit margins or electoral calculations are at stake.

Recent investigations, including a scathing finding by the Ombudsman, revealed the shameful truth of how this new law was born. Executives from Z Energy and Fonterra had direct access to the Prime Minister’s Office. They handed over private briefing documents suggesting exactly how the law should be rewritten to exempt them from accountability.

When investigative journalists and watchdogs asked for these documents under official transparency laws, the Prime Minister’s Office hid them, keeping the corporate collusion secret from the public.

When ordinary people finally manage to get their concerns before a judge, the government shouldn’t be allowed to simply change the rules midstream to ensure the case never reaches a conclusion.

Climate justice rally call around the world

These corporate giants are aware of the legal precedent this case could set, it is no surprise they are trying to shut down the courts.

What is happening in New Zealand is a warning sign for the rest of the world. Across the globe, climate litigation is breaking new ground. Activists are successfully using the courts to force change.  If they succeed in New Zealand, other polluting industries could use this same playbook of secret lobbying to strip away your rights next.

Democracy isn’t self-sustaining – rights survive only when people are willing to stand up and defend them. We cannot allow corporate bullying to override democratic justice.

It is time to resist

The climate crisis is accelerating. Public trust in institutions is fraying. Economic inequality is widening. Indigenous rights remain contested. These interconnected symptoms reflect a political system struggling to balance concentrated power with the public good.

The response can’t be silence or resignation. People need to organise, speak out, challenge misinformation, support independent journalism, engage in public debate, stand with communities already suffering the impacts of climate change, and vote with a clear understanding of what’s at stake. Real change has always come from ordinary people deciding that the direction of their country matters enough to fight for.

That’s the challenge before us now.

I intend to continue that fight, both inside and outside the courtroom, because the issues at stake are bigger than any one case and any one generation. I hope you will stand in solidarity with me.

E tū e tū! Tutū te puehu! (Rise up! Kick up the dust!)

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Mike Smith (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) is a climate change activist, father and grandfather from Aotearoa, New Zealand. He has more than 30 years’ experience in climate education and strategic organisation and action in Aotearoa and internationally.

A version of this article was first posted on E-TANGATA.

CNN Travel called Raja Ampat ‘The Last Paradise on Earth’. National Geographic and The New York Times listed it among the world’s top destinations for 2025. Conservation experts describe the islands of Raja Ampat as ‘the epicentre of marine biodiversity’.

But this place is much more than a tropical paradise. Located off the coast of New Guinea in Indonesia’s Southwest Papua province, this remote archipelago of more than 1,500 islands, cays and shoals spans 4.6 million hectares of land and sea, including a network of more than 1.7 million hectares of marine protected areas. It is home to extraordinary biodiversity, as well as Indigenous West Papuan communities whose lives have been deeply connected to these forests and seas for generations.

For years, Raja Ampat has been celebrated as a rare conservation success story. Today, however, this globally important ecosystem is facing growing pressure from extractive industries. The rapid expansion of nickel mining now threatens the forests, coral reefs and communities that have made the archipelago one of the world’s greatest biodiversity treasures.

Here are six things you need to know about Raja Ampat, and why protecting this extraordinary place matters to all of us.

1. It is the heart of the Coral Triangle

The waters of Raja Ampat are among the most biodiverse marine areas on Earth. At the heart of the Coral Triangle, a vast region recognised as the global centre of tropical marine biodiversity, the archipelago is home to around 75% of the world’s coral species and approximately 2,500 species of fish. Beneath its turquoise waters, vibrant coral reefs provide sanctuary for manta rays, sea turtles, reef sharks and countless other species, making Raja Ampat one of the world’s most extraordinary underwater ecosystems.

2. Its biodiversity doesn’t stop at the shoreline

While Raja Ampat is famous for its coral reefs, its forests are equally extraordinary. Home to endemic mammals, birds-of-paradise and lush mangroves, these forests are inseparable from the surrounding seas. Together they form one living ecosystem, where forests protect coral reefs, mangroves shelter marine life, and species found nowhere else on Earth continue to thrive. Raja Ampat is home to 47 mammal species, including the endemic Waigeo spotted cuscus, and 274 bird species, six of which exist nowhere else on Earth.

3. Indigenous People have made Raja Ampat a conservation success story

Long before Raja Ampat became known around the world, Indigenous West Papuan communities had been caring for these islands and seas for generations. Their cultures, livelihoods and identities are inseparable from the forests, mangroves and reefs that sustain life across the archipelago.

Over the years, Indigenous communities, local organisations, conservation groups and governments have worked together to protect Raja Ampat. Their collective efforts have helped make it one of the world’s most celebrated conservation success stories. In 2023, large parts of the archipelago were designated a UNESCO Global Geopark, while extensive areas on land and at sea are now protected under Indonesian conservation measures. In September 2025, after the #SaveRajaAmpat campaign gained public support and went into an outcry, UNESCO designated the area as a Biosphere Reserve, granting this area double UNESCO status.

Raja Ampat has also become an international example of how conservation and community-based tourism can support both nature and local livelihoods.

4. A global race for minerals is putting Raja Ampat at risk

For decades, Raja Ampat remained largely protected from large-scale industrial development. Today, however, the archipelago is facing growing pressure from extractive industries. With the excuse that minerals such as nickel are crucial for the economy and as countries race to secure them, areas once considered too remote or too valuable to exploit are increasingly being targeted for mining. Raja Ampat is one of those places.

A Greenpeace Indonesia investigation published in June 2025 mapped 16 current and former nickel mining licences across Raja Ampat. The findings raised concerns that one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots was becoming the latest frontier in the global race for critical minerals. Nickel mining is not critical. Critical are the ecosystems that maintain life on Earth and protect us from the climate crisis. Critical are the livelihoods, knowledge and wisdom of those who have lived in harmony with the planet for millenia.

5. After a major victory, a threat remains

Following a Greenpeace investigation and widespread public mobilisation under the  #SaveRajaAmpat campaign, the Indonesian government revoked, in 2025, four of the five active nickel mining licences in the region. It was a major victory, but one mining licence remains active, and the pressure has not disappeared. 

A new Greenpeace Indonesia report published today has found evidence that at least three companies are preparing new nickel mining projects in eastern Waigeo, the largest island in the Raja Ampat archipelago, while coal mining and  oil and gas expansion continues across the region.

6. There is still time to protect ‘The Last Paradise on Earth’

The victories achieved in recent years have shown that public pressure can make a difference. But protecting this extraordinary archipelago requires ongoing work to prevent destructive extractive industries from expanding into places like these, while recognising and strengthening the rights, territories and leadership of the Indigenous Peoples who have cared for them for generations.

As the world searches for solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises, Raja Ampat reminds us that the most effective solutions already exist. They begin by protecting nature, recognising Indigenous Peoples’ rights and leadership, and ensuring that places like this are never sacrificed in the name of development.

Jaqueline Sordi is the Communications Lead for the Tropical Forests campaign at Greenpeace International

From the United States and Canada to France and Spain, from Japan to Morocco, India and Pakistan, the past few weeks have felt like living inside an oven. Western Europe endured its hottest June on record, and fiercest fires in July, with repeated heatwaves slamming France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the UK. Early analyses suggest the late‑June 2026 European heatwave may have killed around 20,000 people in just one week, with more than 10,000 excess deaths recorded during that period, most of them among people over 65. In France alone, public health authorities later estimated more than 5,700 excess deaths during the historic June heatwave.

At the same time, countries already familiar with brutal summers are being pushed past human limits. In India, a 2026 study estimated that a single day of extreme heat causes about 3,400 excess deaths, and a five‑day heatwave nearly 30,000 additional deaths nationwide, with the heaviest burden on poorer, hotter states such as Uttar Pradesh. Pakistan and countries across the Persian Gulf are also enduring “too hot, too humid” conditions where the heat index reaches levels that make outdoor work and even short walks life‑threatening. Japan has declared recent heatwaves a “disaster”, with more than 10,000 people rushed to hospital for heatstroke in a single week.

Across North Africa, Morocco has faced back‑to‑back heatwaves on top of drought and water stress, with orange alerts and temperatures reaching 44 to 46°C in provinces from Marrakech and Beni Mellal to Laayoune and Dakhla, followed swiftly by forest fires.

This heat is not “just summer”. It is fossil‑fuelled climate breakdown, supercharged by a strong El Niño that is loading the dice for record temperatures and extreme weather. Whole regions are turning into tinderboxes as wildfires rip through dried‑out forests from Spain and Portugal to Greece, southern France and North Africa, forcing tens of thousands to flee, closing Tour de France stages to spectators and leaving tennis players at Roland Garros and footballers in the World Cup struggling to breathe and perform in dangerous heat.

What extreme heat is doing to people, food systems and ecosystems

Extreme heat does not only stress bodies. It also damages minds and sleep. When nights stay hot and humid, the body cannot cool down properly, core temperature stays high and people lose hours of sleep. Researchers found that across the whole globe, the average person has lost about 56 hours of sleep per year because of high temperatures over the last five years. On top of that, studies show that extreme heat can slow reaction times, worsen concentration and decision‑making and is linked to higher risks of anxiety, depression and other mental‑health problems, especially for older people and those already living with mental illness.

Heat is also damaging the systems we depend on. Extreme temperatures and drought are already jeopardising harvests and food security in many regions, while pushing key species and ecosystems towards collapse through mass coral bleaching, forest dieback, more frequent wildfires and hotter, more acidic oceans.

How to protect your body and home during extreme heat

When temperatures soar, the first priority is keeping people alive and safer where they are. The basics still matter. Drink water regularly, avoid alcohol, wear loose light clothing, rest in the shade and check on elderly neighbours, children, disabled people and anyone living alone. This advice lands very differently for someone in an air‑conditioned flat in Paris, a street vendor in Karachi, a farmer in Uttar Pradesh or a construction worker in Casablanca, so it must be adapted to real living conditions.

Fans can be powerful if used smartly. A fan blowing across a wet cloth, a shallow tray of ice or a damp bedsheet can cool air more effectively in dry heat. In very humid heat, fans work best when aimed to help sweat evaporate from bare skin. Simple tricks like placing a damp sheet in front of an open window at night, or sitting with feet in a bucket of cool water, can bring temperatures down a few crucial degrees.

People are also finding creative ways to cool homes on a low budget. In many countries, residents are painting windows with white chalk paint to reflect sunlight, and using emergency foil blankets on the outside of windows to bounce heat away while leaving a gap for air to flow. Grassroots guides in places like Morocco and India share similar hacks, from hanging light‑coloured sheets outside windows to building simple shade structures on rooftops.

For babies, children, older people and pets, small habits can be lifesaving. Cool (not ice cold) baths or showers, wet cloths on wrists, neck and ankles, avoiding hot pavements, never leaving anyone in a parked car, and rearranging sleep so people rest in the coolest room in the home all help. Whenever possible, people without safe homes need access to public cooling spaces.

Air conditioning can be life‑saving for vulnerable people during multi‑day heatwaves, especially in places where nights stay very hot. It should be used carefully, not set to extreme cold and combined with other cooling measures to reduce the strain on bodies and power systems. Shared cooled spaces and public cooling centres can protect more people than single units in a few homes.

Making cities liveable in a hotter world

People deserve protection from extreme heat and heat‑related health risks. That requires ambitious political decisions to adapt cities, upgrade housing and public spaces, and provide safe, accessible places to cool down. Many city governments are starting to combine climate mitigation, adaptation and action on energy poverty so that entire neighbourhoods can cope better with rising temperatures. This includes retrofitting housing with insulation, shading, ventilation and cool roofs to cut indoor temperatures by several degrees, especially in poorly built blocks and informal settlements.

Programmes in Spain, France and Germany show that renovating homes and social housing for energy efficiency can reduce winter bills and deadly summer heat, particularly when paired with rooftop solar and community energy. Yet many countries, including France, are far behind their renovation promises and targets, leaving millions of people in leaky, overheating homes. Energy efficiency also reduces dependence on climate‑wrecking fossil gas, which in some regions has helped fund Putin’s war machine.

Green infrastructure is just as important as pipes and concrete. Thermal imaging by Greenpeace groups in Madrid, Rome, London and Indian cities shows the same pattern. Streets and squares without trees or parks can be more than 10°C / 50°F hotter than nearby green areas, while vegetation and water features can lower surface temperatures by 15°C to 20°C / 59 to 68°F in some spots. Opening parks and public pools in evenings and weekends, planting trees along streets and around schools, restoring urban wetlands and rivers and reducing traffic all help cool cities and protect health. White or reflective roof coatings, from traditional lime washes in the Mediterranean to modern cool paints in cities like Ahmedabad, Los Angeles and Casablanca, are also proving cheap ways to cool entire districts, with big benefits for economically disadvantaged communities who often live in the hottest buildings.

New rules and public services for an age of extreme heat

As extreme heat becomes a regular threat, governments are starting to introduce “heat laws” and protections that should have existed years ago. Cities like Seville and Athens are naming and ranking heatwaves to trigger automatic emergency plans. Regions in Spain, Italy and the United States are introducing rules that stop outdoor work during the hottest hours or require employers to provide shade, rest, water and protective equipment.

Cooling centres in libraries, schools, mosques, churches and community halls are opening in cities from Paris to Bangkok, but coverage is often patchy and fails to reach the poorest neighbourhoods or people without transport. The World Health Organization and other health agencies call for heat‑health action plans that invest in public services, early warning systems and resilient power grids, with special focus on people who cannot simply work from home or escape to cooler regions.

In Morocco too, climate experts are calling for urgent changes to building rules, labour standards and public health planning so that extreme heat is treated as a permanent risk.

Everyday climate actions to cut emissions and reduce heat harm

Personal choices will not solve a crisis driven by fossil fuel companies and political inaction. They still matter, especially when they build pressure for systemic change. Eating more plant‑based food, wasting less, cutting unnecessary flights, shifting to public transport, walking and cycling and insulating homes where possible all help cut the fossil fuel demand that is driving extreme heat. This can still limit how brutal future heatwaves become.

These steps are stronger when combined with collective action. People are joining local campaigns for safe housing and green streets, supporting unions that push for heat protections, backing climate lawsuits and fossil fuel phase‑out plans and challenging the luxury emissions of the richest 1 percent whose private jets, superyachts and hyper‑consumption drive a huge share of climate chaos.

Stopping fossil‑fuelled heat at the source

“Drink water and stay inside” will never be enough in a world where heat is already killing roughly one person every minute and where extreme events like June – July 2026 are becoming the new normal. The most important heat protection is to stop burning coal, oil and gas as fast as possible and replace them with renewable, efficient energy systems that are fair for workers and communities.

This crisis is deeply unjust. The people dying first and hardest from heat in India, Pakistan, Morocco or the Persian Gulf countries did the least to cause it. A small group of rich countries and corporations burned most of the fossil fuels and still profit from them. A fair response means those who benefited most from coal, oil and gas, including the ultra‑rich whose emissions are off the scale, must pay for adaptation, loss and damage and a fast transition to renewables in every region.

That means no new fossil fuel projects, a rapid phaseout of existing oil, gas and coal, and major investment in solar, wind, storage, grids and efficiency, together with a just transition for workers and affected communities. It also means windfall taxes on fossil profits, climate damage payments, debt relief and real finance for adaptation, health systems and heat‑safe housing, instead of more subsidies for fossil fuels and industrial agribusiness.

Lots of the death and devastation we are seeing can still be prevented. We have reached a point where politics and policies quite literally shape who gets to live or die in a heatwave, and who is left to face it alone. 

Heat is political. Either fossil fuel companies keep cashing in while people collapse in overheated homes, or governments back better protected homes, greener cities, stronger public services and a fast, fair end to the fuels that are turning extreme heat into a mass‑casualty event.

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