By Matthias Inverardi, Guillermo Martinez and Yamini Kalia
DUSSELDORF/MADRID, June 23 (Reuters) – As a heatwave pushes temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across Europe, companies are trying to protect workers, to keep operations running and capitalise on soaring demand for anything that might offer relief.
In Germany, logistics giant DHL has equipped delivery staff with “cool boxes” containing reusable cooling towels, water-activated wrist coolers and UV-protective neck guards as its over 111,000 postal workers continue their rounds in the heat.
Construction firms are shifting working hours to start earlier and finish before the hottest part of the day, while retailers are struggling to keep pace with demand for fans and portable air-conditioning units.
“The extremely high temperatures naturally pose a special strain during physically demanding work,” DHL said, adding that workers are being urged to drink plenty of fluids, use sunscreen and seek shade whenever possible.
Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, the continent’s second-largest steelmaker, is offering extra water and fruit at its blast furnaces, steelworks and hot strip mills, where temperatures for workers can rise to more than 45 C even without a heatwave.
As an intense weather system has drawn in hot air northwards from the Sahara, in France, 40 people have drowned in recent days. They were seeking to avoid temperatures that reached peaks above 41 C in Bordeaux and Poitiers, southwestern France.
Regional schools closed or modified timetables, while further north, parts of Britain are also bracing for record June temperatures.
Of all continents, Europe has suffered the sharpest increase in temperatures scientists have linked to human-induced climate change. It was the continent furthest above its historic temperature norm on Monday, according to Reuters Climate Monitor data.
NOWHERE TO ESCAPE THE HEAT
For many workers, coping strategies are becoming a routine part of the job.
“I wear light clothes and I keep drinking, hydrating because it is unbearable,” said Madrid electrician Vladimir Yepes, 58. “Even when we are not under the sun, the temperature keeps rising.”
Accountant Juan Antonio Casas, 60, said that in the air-conditioned office, things were bearable, but that it was “horrible to go out in the street”.
Germany’s Central Association of the Construction Industry said road-building crews and outdoor workers were most exposed to the risks associated with extreme heat.
“People often start earlier and finish correspondingly earlier to avoid the hottest part of the day,” said Heribert Jöris, the association’s head of social and collective bargaining policy.
As working hours are adapted, France’s association of farm cooperatives said some silos were organising night shifts to receive grain because local authorities have banned afternoon harvesting to limit the risk of fire.
E.ON, Europe’s largest energy networks operator, has set up pavilions at its Bayernwerk subsidiary so staff can rest in the shade. It said high temperatures also test power grid management, though, in some cases, increased electricity use for air conditioning could be offset by more solar power generation.
SALES OPPORTUNITY FOR SOME
The heat has created winners as well as losers.
British electrical retailer Currys said sales of fans jumped nearly 3,000% compared with the previous weekend ahead of the latest heatwave, while air-conditioning unit sales rose 330%.
AO World finance chief Mark Higgins said the heat in Britain, which also experienced record temperatures in May, had boosted demand earlier than normal.
“The UK has had a hot weather spike through May, which is earlier than we would normally see in the year,” Higgins said. “When it is hot, we do see huge sales of air conditioning and fans.”
The surge points to a broader shift in a continent historically less dependent on air conditioning than regions such as North America, where it is commonplace.
A GROWING ECONOMIC COST
If some people’s profits are rising, most people are facing unwelcome costs as a result of the droughts, floods and heatwaves that climate change makes more likely.
A 2025 study from the University of Mannheim and European Central Bank economists found that extreme weather events could cost the European Union some €126 billion ($143.46 billion) by 2029.
Southern Europe is especially vulnerable and public authorities are being forced to respond.
Madrid has expanded a network of “climate shelters” designed to offer respite to vulnerable residents. Others have taken action to keep their own homes cool, but there is a price.
Yandri, a 28-year-old plumber in the Spanish capital, said he sleeps with air conditioning running through the night.
“You will see the bill. It is going to be big,” he said.
($1 = 0.8783 euros)
(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi and Tom Kaeckenhoff in Dusseldorf, Guillermo Martinez in Madrid, Patricia Weiss and Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Yamini Kalia and Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Barbara Lewis and Rod Nickel)
Comments