The Italian summer of June and July 2025 experienced an exceptional heatwave, with record temperatures and dramatic impacts on public health, urban environments, and essential services. Yet, according to a report by the Osservatorio di Pavia for Greenpeace, only in about one out of four cases did TV news link these heatwaves to climate change: in the vast majority of cases, the human origin of the phenomenon is not mentioned, or at best, cited superficially. Major newspapers are even worse: nearly 70% of articles dedicated to heatwaves make no reference to global warming. When they do, it’s merely in the introduction, without delving into the actual causes such as greenhouse gas emissions.

This narrative is deeply misleading and creates the illusion that extreme events are isolated cases, perhaps tied to previous historic episodes (like the 2003 or 1969 heatwaves), rather than tangible symptoms of a growing global trend. Over the past twenty years, however, the frequency and intensity of heatwaves have clearly and consistently increased, in parallel with the rise in average global temperature. Ignoring the climate context reduces the understanding of the phenomenon to just a weather emergency—misleading both journalistically and politically.

This climate change brings effects far beyond urban heat. Hotter and drier soils fuel wildfires; parts of the Mediterranean have recorded sea temperatures up to 6 °C above average, conditions that favor torrential rains, cyclones, and typhoons, because warm air and oceans hold more water vapor. Droughts expand, glaciers melt, sea levels rise, and snowfall decreases. Paradoxically, these consequences are often reported as temporary emergencies, without framing them in a systemic perspective.

If global warming is now an undeniable fact, the main cause is equally well-documented: the rise of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human activity. From satellite data to in-situ measurements and advanced climate models, a solid scientific consensus exists: the models developed by Syukuro Manabe and Richard Wetherald in the 1960s—recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2021—predicted that a doubling of CO₂, from about 150 to 300 ppm, would cause a warming of the troposphere of about +2.3 °C, accompanied by a cooling of the stratosphere. This vertical profile is exactly what has been observed over the last fifty years and constitutes the “signature” of anthropogenic greenhouse effect. If instead the warming were due to a peak in solar activity, we would expect more uniform heating across all atmospheric layers—which is not the case.

The climate has always changed: variations with cycles of tens to hundreds of thousands of years have been reconstructed through temperature and greenhouse gas concentration measurements in Arctic ice cores. These are due to changes in Earth’s orbital parameters, which can be calculated and predicted with high precision and modulate solar irradiance. Additionally, in the past, more rapid changes were observed due to intensified volcanic and solar activity. However, today we are facing a totally new phenomenon in Earth’s climate history—characterized by the speed at which it is occurring. The human contribution has been concentrated in the last 150 years, a much shorter timescale than natural ones.

From the perspective of historical responsibility, the United States has emitted about 450 gigatonnes of CO₂ cumulatively, Europe about 300, and China around 280. This means that, per capita, Western countries bear the highest share of responsibility. In particular, China reached its emissions peak only in recent years and is now rapidly advancing toward renewables, with a massive investment in solar energy exceeding the combined investment of all Western countries. Instead of leveraging this technological momentum and developing partnerships with China to help avert the looming catastrophe, Western governments are rearming for an improbable war with China and other imaginary enemies. The shortsightedness of our ruling classes is matched only by their greed, because behind the distorted media portrayal of the issue—which serves to anesthetize public debate—lie precise economic interests.

Ultimately, the extreme heat we are experiencing is not a random meteorological episode: it is a disregarded symptom of a systemic and global phenomenon. To address it, we need an informed narrative based on reliable data, and strong mitigation policies: emission reduction, acceleration of the energy transition, and collective awareness. Only then can we transform a discouraging story into a collective commitment for a sustainable future.

Published in Il Fatto Quotidiano