Europe's Politicians Grapple With Climate Impacts, Populism

Europe’s climate change politics have been buffeted by two opposing drivers this year. Extreme weather events, most recently heat waves, have claimed thousands of lives and destroyed large areas of countryside across Europe, prompting some politicians to revive rhetoric about fighting climate change. At the same time, the continent is bracing for a potential wave of successes by right-wing populist parties — skeptical of climate policies — in upcoming national elections. Many such parties argue that man-made climate change is a dubious science or that renewables are insufficient for energy security, but some now grudgingly accept the need for adaptation to avoid the worst climate impacts on citizens.