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June 2026 Hottest on Record for Western Europe as Cooling Demand and Supply Constraints Raised Power Prices
Copernicus data show June 2026 was the hottest June on record for western Europe and the second warmest globally. Heatwaves drove sharp increases in electricity demand and wholesale power prices across major EU economies.
Jul 16, 2:40 AM·1m read1 source
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June 2026 was the hottest June on record for western Europe and the second warmest globally, according to Copernicus. The three warmest years on record globally were 2024, 2023 and 2025, in that order. Rising temperatures and heatwaves pushed more households to use cooling, driving up energy demand across Europe.
EU household energy consumed for cooling stood at 15.5 thousand TJ in 2010 and rose 420 percent by 2024. Austria recorded the largest increase in household energy consumption for cooling among EU countries between 2018 and 2024, at over 1,000 percent. Czechia recorded a 244 percent increase over the same period.
Cooling accounted for 16 percent of household energy consumption in Cyprus, 15 percent in Malta and 13.4 percent in Albania. Greece used 7.4 percent for cooling, while Spain used 17.8 percent. Italy consumed 26.3 thousand TJ of energy for cooling, the highest amount in the EU.
Spain consumed 14.3 thousand TJ, the second-highest amount. Turkey consumed 13.6 thousand TJ. During the June 2026 heatwaves, electricity demand rose sharply across the EU's four largest economies, with France recording the biggest increase.
France's grid operator RTE stated that every 1°C rise in temperature typically adds between 0.7 GW and 1 GW of electricity demand, with cooling likely accounting for an extra 10 to 14 GW during the hottest days. Wholesale power prices topped €200 per MWh in Germany, reached almost €160 per MWh in France and exceeded €110 per MWh in Spain.
The spike was driven by rising cooling demand as well as constrained supply from weak wind generation in Germany and temporary cuts to French nuclear output caused by unusually warm river water.
