Even as extreme weather events worsen across Europe, voices calling for the rolling back of environmental rules have grown louder and more influential. In the week between Christmas and New Year, two Spanish men in their early 50s—friends since childhood—went to a restaurant in Málaga and never returned. Francisco Zea Bravo, a maths teacher, and Antonio Morales Serrano, a café owner, died when heavy rains turned the Fahala River into an uncontrollable torrent. Their bodies were found after an agonising search.
The quiet fallout of a broken climate has echoed across western Europe for weeks. Back-to-back storms have killed at least 16 people in Portugal, soils in France have reached unprecedented saturation levels, and parts of the UK have broken records for consecutive days of rain. This is Europe's new reality: under water in winter, withered in summer. Yet denial persists.
In the US, President Donald Trump has ramped up attacks on climate policy, quitting the Paris agreement and repealing pollution controls. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has pressured Europe to roll back methane standards. In Europe, far-right parties have gained ground by fighting climate policy, while centrist leaders roll back green rules to placate polluting industries. The EU's carbon price has come under fire from the chemical industry.
Meanwhile, storms continue to batter the continent. The 2024-25 storm season has already seen 16 named storms, one short of the record 17 in 2023-24. The jet stream has shifted south, bringing relentless rains. As Conchi Navarro, a headteacher in Alhaurín el Grande, said: 'How can anybody say this is an invention?'
