Risk to human life due to heatwaves underestimated, Swiss company says

Europe, the world's fastest-warming continent, has reported thousands of excess deaths during a record-breaking heatwave, most of them people aged 65 and above.

Dave Graham/Reuters

August 9, 2026

Risk to human life due to heatwaves underestimated, Swiss company says

People raise their hands as they cool off in water mist outside the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli while gathering for Pope Leo’s visit marking the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis, during a heatwave in Assisi, Italy, August 6, 2026.

REUTERS/Antonio Denti

ZURICH- Authorities failed to grasp the scale of risk to human life posed by heatwaves, the CEO of reinsurance company Swiss Re was quoted as saying on Sunday, as Europe faces mounting deaths linked to extreme summer temperatures.

Europe, the world's fastest-warming continent, has reported thousands of excess deaths during a record-breaking heatwave, most of them people aged 65 and above. France and Spain have been particularly hard hit by the heat in recent weeks.

"The risk of heatwaves and the associated fatalities was underestimated," Swiss Re CEO Andreas Berger told Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, adding: "We need to raise awareness of the dangers arising from this".

Berger, who was speaking after Swiss Re reported a 9% increase in net profit for the first half of 2026, said it was too early to say definitively how the excess mortality would affect the Zurich-based company's figures.

Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Alexander Smith/Reuters