Speech by Commission EVP Ribera at the High-Level Solutions Dialogue on Accelerating Early Warning and Extreme Heat Solutions

Speech by Commission EVP Ribera at the High-Level Solutions Dialogue on Accelerating Early Warning and Extreme Heat Solutions

22 September 2025, New York - Speech by Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, at the High-Level Solutions Dialogue on Accelerating Early Warning and Extreme Heat Solutions

1. It is an honour to be here at the United Nations Headquarters today, as part of this high level solutions dialogue on Accelerating Early Warning and Extreme Heat Solutions.

2. Disasters break records year after year. Europe is warming at twice the global average. During the summer, Europe experienced at least three major heatwaves, leading to heat stress and contributing to record-breaking wildfires in the region.

3. More than a million hectares of land were burned. The scale of destruction is staggering - and we know it is not a one-off event. Climate change is making each summer hotter, harsher, and more dangerous. We must step up our efforts.

4. Early warning systems for floods, drought, and wildfires are essential to protect people and reduce the impact of imminent disasters.

5. These systems are an integral part of preparedness and building a comprehensive approach to resilience.

6. The EU fully supports the UN Early Warnings for All initiative (EW4All), and is committed to keeping the topic high on the agenda.

7. The EU contributes at policy, financial and technical levels to the development of early warning systems both in Europe and globally, to support civil protection and humanitarian operations.

8. The EU has developed systems for monitoring, forecasting and early warning for floods, drought, and wildfires.

9. The systems under Copernicus Emergency Management Services (CEMS), are regularly improved and updated, and are freely available worldwide.

10. For example, the Global Drought Observatory (GDO), provides crucial drought forecasting worldwide, in a user-friendly format.

11. Early warning systems are crucial to enabling quicker and more effective responses to climate and weather-related disasters. We count on our digital and satellite operators to provide data enabling decision-makers and authorities to make the most informed and fastest decisions.

12. They are essential to strengthening our preparedness.

13. In addition to putting in place early warning systems that work, we also need to make sure that the population is properly trained. That people understand the information they receive and know what they need to do in reaction to a warning.

14. We can make it happen by working with local authorities, civil society organisations, local leaders and all actors involved. This concerns all of us, and requires all of us.

15. But along improving our reactive capacity, we need to build structural resilience and embed "resilience by design" in all policy and investment decisions we make. Whether they concern building infrastructure or designing agriculture policies for example.

16. I very much welcome this dialogue on the crucial early warning systems required to keep us safe in a warming climate, as we continue to work to secure a global 1,5 degree path.