In Canada, authorities in Nova Scotia have declared an emergency and evacuated over 18,000 people as wildfires rage outside Halifax amid record-breaking heat. Air quality alerts were issued in parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Asia’s heat wave also continues to smash records, with Shanghai reaching its highest May temperature in over a century at 97 degrees Fahrenheit. In India, the thermostat hit 113 degrees Fahrenheit in recent weeks, as many laborers and poor workers have no choice but to keep working outdoors in the extreme heat.

Meanwhile, the EU said this week it is doubling its aerial firefighting fleet to tackle worsening summer forest fires due to the climate crisis.

Janez Lenarčič: “Disasters are occurring with increased frequency and intensity. In recent years, we have seen wildfires raging in countries in the central and even northern Europe. And we have seen historic floods just now in Italy or two years ago in Germany and Belgium. This is why we are scaling up our response capacity across the mechanism, including our ability to tackle wildfires.”