On the occasion of the 64th Sessions of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies in Bonn from June 8th – 18th in the wake of an unprecedented heat wave in Western Europe, the European Grandparents for Climate have sent the following urgent message to the participants of the conference and national members will send corresponding messages to their governments.
We, the “European Grandparents for Climate” are an umbrella organization of national organizations of older people engaged in climate and environmental protection, representing roughly 20000 activists in Europe. We are sending the following message to the participants of this meeting in Bonn:
Just two weeks ago, starting on 22 May, Western Europe was struck by an unprecedented heatwave that has so far claimed at least eleven lives. It brought home with painful clarity that climate destruction is not a distant threat — it is already unfolding here and now, affecting the health and well-being of millions. The record temperatures reached in May must serve as an urgent warning: there is no more time to lose in implementing effective and stringent climate protection policies. This should go without saying — and yet, regrettably, small but financially powerful interest groups continue to advance their own agenda at the expense of the majority.
This is happening despite the landmark advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in July 2025, which confirmed that all states bear legal obligations under international law to protect the climate system from greenhouse gas emissions and to prevent significant environmental harm. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in its Article 3, affirms that “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” That right is directly imperilled by climate change. Article 37 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union further declares that “a high level of environmental protection and the improvement of the quality of the environment must be integrated into the policies of the Union and ensured in accordance with the principle of sustainable development.” European governments that fail to give priority to climate protection are therefore in dereliction of their duty.
On 17 May of this year — just days before the heatwave struck — the Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health (PECCH), convened by WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge and chaired by former Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, published its Call to Action at the World Health Assembly in Geneva. Comprising thirteen former heads of government, ministers, and civil society leaders from across the 53-country WHO European Region, the Commission delivered seventeen recommendations spanning four domains:
treating climate change as a growing threat to health security; transforming health systems; scaling up local action; and reforming the economic and financial systems driving the crisis.
Its message to governments is unequivocal: climate change is not a future threat to be managed — it is an immediate and escalating crisis affecting health, food, water, energy and national security simultaneously, and the current response is not commensurate with its scale. As Dr Kluge put it: “Climate change is a security threat, a health emergency and an economic time bomb, all rolled into one.”
We therefore call with utmost urgency upon all governments participating directly or indirectly in these negotiations to heed the writing on the wall and find the courage to halt the ongoing destruction of our climate system — in the interest of present and future generations alike.
Dr. Godela von Kirchbach and Eva Riemer, Co-chairs EGC.