Zeus: Green fund flows rise for first time in three years as heat emergencies bite

Insurers raise alarm in Europe as fifth heatwave of the summer hits

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People ride bicycles in London’s Greenwich Park amid dried grass and extreme high temps on Tuesday. Photo: AP/Kin Cheung.

New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham called the first emergency meeting of his cabinet earlier today as the fifth massive heatwave of the summer hits the UK and Europe with temperatures threatening to top 100°F in London this week.

The Cobra meeting is named for the specific room inside 10 Downing St. where emergency cabinet meetings are held, kind of like the Situation Room complex at the White House. It is designed for the highest order of threat against Britain, such as the fallout from a new war in the Middle East or a terrorist attack.

The fact that Burnham is using a global warming spike for his first Cobra meeting is significant. The Labour Prime Minister is widely expected to re-open two big new oil fields in the North Sea in coming weeks amid calls for energy price relief. But now the prospects of emergency wildfires and drought, easily illustrated in the parched, brown grass across London’s parks, might be causing him to rethink a plan that would only add more harmful carbon emissions to the atmosphere.