Spain’s Sanchez Calls for National Climate Pact as Fires Rage

(Bloomberg) -- Spain’s Pedro Sanchez called for a nationwide pact uniting all levels of government to combat what he called an accelerating climate emergency as wildfires raged in several regions of the country.

“The climate emergency that’s ravishing the world is increasingly more accelerated, more severe and more frequent, especially in places like the Iberian Peninsula,” the prime minister said on Sunday in Orense, in the northwestern region of Galicia, one of the most devastated by blazes. “We are going to propose a big nationwide pact for the mitigation and adaptation to the climate emergency.”

Wildfires have broken out across southern Europe in the recent days as heat waves baked vegetation into kindling, with strong winds spreading flames quickly through dry brush, forests and crops. Almost all of Spain was under extreme risk of wildfires on Sunday, with numerous active blazes in northwestern, central and southern regions. Temperatures in some areas were forecast to reach 44C (111F). Thousands of people were evacuated.

Climate change has made heat waves more frequent and intense in Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent. That’s triggering more extreme weather events such as wildfires and violent storms. Spain is particularly vulnerable.

The fires in Spain have quickly become the topic of political bickering. Three of the most affected regions — Galicia, Castile and Leon, and Extremadura — are controlled by the opposition conservative Popular Party, with politicians from its far-right junior coalition partner Vox often denying climate change. 

While political foes have accused Sanchez of not deploying the Armed Forces to help, his Socialist government has long used the Military Emergency Unit to fight fires. Sanchez said 500 more troops would be deployed to combat the infernos throughout the country. 

On Saturday, 1,400 troops were directly fighting blazes and 2,000 were in support missions, while 450 fire-fighting rigs had been deployed by the unit. 

Many of the wildfire prevention measures, such as regularly clearing dry bush, are the responsibility of regional administrations. 

Sanchez — speaking next to the Popular Party’s president of the Galicia region, Alfonso Rueda — said he’ll present next month a plan to enhance nationwide coordination, regardless of political party, to improve the country’s readiness for climate disasters. He described it as “a pact that should leave the climate emergency out of political fighting” and should be based on science. 

The prime minster cut his speech short after someone in the audience appeared to fall sick.

“Heatstroke,” Sanchez ventured as the likely cause.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.