Week Ender — Searing Contradiction: Wildfires and climate politics

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Wildfires may sound remote — something that happens deep in a forest or on an empty mountainside. But in Europe, there’s often very little distance between nature and major population centers. That’s why the fires near Bordeaux and Madrid have been so frightening: they’re not burning somewhere far away, but threatening homes, businesses and entire urban regions.

European countries are responding by sending planes, helicopters and hundreds of firefighters to help one another. But while Europe has built an effective system for reacting once the flames are raging, it’s still struggling with the less dramatic work of prevention.

POLITICO senior climate reporter Zia Weise joins host Sarah Wheaton, sustainability reporter Marianne Gros and Agnes Rønberg from the agriculture team to examine how abandoned land, poorly managed forests and disappearing livestock are making fires harder to control.

They also unpack the growing bill for homes, farms and businesses — and how the costs eventually spread to insurers and cash-strapped governments — while asking whether Brussels can prepare Europe for worsening climate disasters as it rolls back parts of the Green Deal.

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