now, ah ah ah, deaths injuries and evacuations mount in europe as a blistering heat wave keeps the continent in its grip. but while the record temperature is dominate conversations and headlines in many countries, european union leaders are already worried about a winter that could prove just as brutal in the face of

a looming energy crisis. the you to day laid out a plan, a roadmap on how to get through the cold months with little or no rush and gas for now the proposed measures are voluntary and promised to put the often question european solidarity to a historic test. i'm nicole for alicia in berlin and this is the day ah, russia is black mailing us. russia is using energy as a weapon from gas, from compass much gas is needed. europe is shut everything down that every member states should reduce the use of gas. we can make it safely through this winter. i don't know if it's worth going into the details of energy policy in european countries. it's soon relevant very well to have it. i guess they might you regard

as an agreeable level of nervousness in the european energy market, whether it's a partial major cut off of russian gas or total cut off of russian gas. europe needs to be ready also coming up the u. s. president resorts to executive action to push through climate policy. can america make the transition to clean energy even without the help of congress? i come here to day with a message as president, i have a responsibility to act with urgency and resolve. when our nation faces clear and present danger, and that's what climate change is about, ah, to our viewers around the world, it's good to have you with us. our house is on fire. those were the words of gretta tune, berg addressing the world economic forum and 2019. she was a learning of the devastating consequences. climate change was bound to have on all

our lives. to day europe, the house of hundreds of millions is on fire, as it has been for days and in some regions for weeks, while fire fighters throughout the self keep battling the blazes authorities and france, spain and portugal are finally able to report improved conditions with searing temperatures slowly abating and france, the area around bordeaux has been one of the worst hit. on wednesday, president ammonia in my home visited firefighters and locals, who have been dealing with the fire emergency there for more than a week. and here's what he had to say. national goodness of changes we were experiencing not only effect france, they affect the entire mediterranean region and even beyond the open several european countries and countries that will not experiencing great fall as a living through an acceleration of direct consequences of climate change. and so all of this will require us to make structural decisions in the coming months. so

the coming years in working again, poorly venue. and the w barbara hazel has been covering the story on the ground and has more it's been really badly hit the on the, the regions files for dough, which has the lovely atlantic coast beaches. and we've seen this morning because the police brought us there. the forest that have been burned right down to the sea . it's amazing side because the scorch trees and right into the, in the glowing and white sand there. so all that is gone that vacation in paradise for the next 2 years. however, what will happen here is that the firefighters, after 9 days, they're still added, they are cautiously optimistic. they've brought the fire under control. it's not reading anymore, but it's so gardening and 9 days that is a long period for, for us to burn, or we can see it here the, these courts trees say after a while they said a just simply catch fire again and they start burdening again,

even after though they've been down with water just half an hour before, so it's not done yet, but they hope that the worst might be over a year in a couple of days. the wave has been steadily moving east across the european continent. much of germany felt the full power of the sun today, with maximum temperatures falling just short of 40 degrees. still, it was the hottest day of the year with it came government health warnings and extreme fire alerts and the capital berlin. people were looking for any way to cool off. and our reporter william glue croft caught up with some of them. yeah, indeed, i mean there are, people are trying to cope people or try to make the most of it. i was up at one of berlin's many public pools earlier today and was able to talk to some people who are trying to escape the heat and get a little bit of refreshment. let's hear what some that to say, ne, as a sense on it. i think it's extreme, but it's still possible to do something about it. here in germany,

it's still just about manageable, big. so what, while i, i think it's quite hot, it's still bearable, but it won't be for long. it's getting worse too long. honestly, i will use it in wash galka. it's been that i'm privileged i work from home. i'm self employed, so i can choose my workplace. i'm lucky. i know it's harder for others. a friend of mine has waitressing in a cafe and 40 degrees celsius. that's a whole different thing. i'm not on the yeah, you'll hear from those people that people are trying to enjoy, but there is a recognition. this is very difficult, especially if you're someone who like behind me can't just come to this fountain or go into a museum behind me to, to get some relief from. he was still have to work with difficult service jobs who just have to grin and bear it. and it could be a very stressful, very dangerous for that for the human body really to, to get through it. ah. the sweltering heat might be the most acute challenge for a year of right now,

but the next to is already waiting around the corner with russian president vladimir putin threatening to turn off the tap on the north stream. one pipeline, europe is bracing for a crippling gas crisis this winter. now the european commission is asking everyone to pitch in to soften the blow of a looming worst case scenario. the european commission has asked you citizens to use less warm water, switch off the lights, and turned on the heat and air conditioning to prepare for a wind. so without rush and gas, russia is black mailing us. russia is using energy as a weapon and therefore in any away event, whether it's a partial major cut off of russian gas or a total cut off of russian gas. europe needs to be ready. and in order to be ready or to laugh under line, had one big message. every one in europe has to save energy starting now. the u. s

. asking all member countries to reduce their gas use by 15 percent. first on a voluntary basis. then in case of severe gas shortage is the measure it could become mandatory. it's a scenario that you commission hubs to avoid. if we do nothing, once things, sure, we will have shortfalls. and shortfalls will not just affect the countries where the shortfalls happen. they will affect every single member state because they will have serious consequences on our economy. and she solidarity among you members is said to become a big topic in europe once it gets colder. but it's not at all clear. all 27 states will get in line. they're not all equally dependent on russian gas and face different levels of emergency. we have seen ongoing, for example, closing down their energy market border. not, you know, allowing our floor out of the country of garza. if for these it becomes

sir an action. they cannot be either governments. if these countries start to close down their energy markets, we are going to be in trouble because the ear won't be able to draw on enough energy sources to fully replace fresh and gas by the winter. despite efforts to build new terminals for a liquefied natural gas boost when your boss and ramp up gas inputs from other countries, like as of right john. current gas storage levels are far below the ears minimum target of 80 percent. after a hot summer, a very tough winter is looming. and now dr. d w correspondent, mentoring out here is in brussels band and this is of course only a proposal for the time being. but looking at the general direction of travel, are we likely to see some

e u countries reducing their industrial activity to save gas for other countries households? rossi, originally this could be possible, but this is not the measure that the you is aiming for. the main focus now lies on saving energy of 15 percent. every country has to save it, and these guys should then be stored in the underground storage to use it in winter to be prepared and to avoid any shortages, either households nor for industry. and the priorities haven't changed in that plan . households and vulnerable infrastructure like hospitals will get gas 1st, then industry. and they will cut off of the things like swimming pool woods, trade fairs, and everything that is connected to leisure, to safeguards and guests sell shall also not be used to and to produce electric power. this should be done by coal, and also by oil,

and also by nuclear energy. was enough on the line says this plant heavily depends on the solidarity as member estate. we briefly heard as, as victor our van from hungary and is that he and everybody else on board? no, they are not on board to hungary excluded any exchange of care supplies with its neighboring countries and hunger is not the only one that is skeptical other countries that are not so dependent on russian gas ask why should we saved gas? why should we the supply our gas we get from norway, or old algeria, or something like that to other countries? so this will be a big discussion or amongst the member states. but the commission is hoping that the scope of this emergency of the crisis will force them to cooperate and to act a similar to the, the way they acted during the pandemic. so come together and show some solidarity

at the international monetary fund war and yesterday, and a complete embargo of russian gas could lead to a severe recession in many countries. can you tell us who would be most mon ruble and what preparations are being made? they're interested enough. it's also hungary. there is one the road here because it depends on the russian gas. it's the czech republic. it's slovakia, but it's also germany, austria and italy. a who'd knew who need this gas for the industries, if these industries shut down than the whole of the european union would be affected, the recession would not be isolated in germany, austria, it would effect everything because the supply chains and production lines are so intertwined in the you in the internal market, you cannot separate them. last year, the in you imported some 40 percent of it gas and rush hour successful, have a 10th of diversifying away from russian energy supplies. been

the the commission is telling us that they uh shop around for a gust supplies around the road actually from the united states to katara. and they managed to get the, the reliance on russian goes down. hm. 40 to 30 percent this year. but still 30 percent is too much, so this has to be saved. it still months through a group of 30000000000 cubic meters. he w correspondent, family got in brussels. thank you so much for that update. ah. in the united states, the dual problem is of energy security and climate change dominated the presidential agenda. today, joe biden announced new executive orders on climate policy direct action that doesn't require the approval of congress. this comes just days after divisions and his own party quashed homes. for sweeping legislation on the environment this year, as, as backed up the u. s. president chose

a former coal fired power plant in massachusetts, that is shifting to offshore wind manufacturing, as the embodiment of the transition to clean energy that joe biden is striving for, but has struggled to realize so far in his presidency. the actions announce on wednesday did not include declaring a national climate emergency which would give the president even more power to address the crisis. climate change is literally existential threat to our nation and to the world. so my message today is this, since congress is not acting as it should. and these guys here are, but we're not getting many republican votes. this is an emergency, an emergency, and i will, i will look at it that way. i said last week, say it again loud and clear as president. i use my executive power to combat climate. the climate crisis in the absence or congressional actually was bringing neat hoffman. he's the founder and director of the center for global sustainability

at the university of maryland on the u. s. and he's also been a senior climate advisor to the u. s. government. mr. lin, welcome. president biden has called climate change. quote, an existential threat to our nation. and to the world, why is the stopping short of declaring a national emergency? well, i don't think we should read too much into the timing of the national emergency, to be honest, i think they're probably going to be it's i understand that they're going to be reviewing that and potentially declaring it next week or the week after that or something i think the more important thing that, that, that we're seeing today is the kind of recognition that climate is an urgent issue . the, the fact that he's kind of making it back on his central agenda is quite important . and i do think that as we're thinking about the substance of the actions that are coming out of the government at this time after the congress has had this sort of problem of, of delivering on biden's larger agenda. i think what we should be focusing on is,

is not just these kind of executive actions that are happening this day and maybe next week in the week after. but also looking at the regulatory actions that happen out of the executive branch, which are rooted in existing legislation that can actually deliver a substantial amount of action on climate change over the course of the next couple of years and beyond. what are those and what impact will they have? yes. so i think that this is kind of the way the u. s. system works. you know, we have some laws that are passed by congress. once those are passed, we have to, you know, deliver them through regulatory action. that's similar to a lot of places around the world on. but basically what happens is that, for example, if you look at our vehicle fleet, there's a, there's an ability by the environmental protection agency to regulate, to regulate the fuel economy standards for vehicles. and that's something that's very conventional. it's not controversial in terms of like the legal questions around it, so we'll likely see additional actions happening on those kinds of things. for vehicles, we're seeing continuing action on reducing methane. methane leaks from the oil and

gas industry proceed. additional actions on energy efficiency standards and more in, in the, and those actually do aggregate to quite a lot on that's been a central pillar of us climate action in, in, in past administrations. and actually biden has done a lot of that stuff already just hasn't been as visible as the discussions that have been had on capitol hill, mr. hoffman. we'll keep talking in a bit. but 1st, let's listen to another part of speech today. while so many governors and bears have been strong partners in this fight to tackle climate change. we need all governors and murders. we need public utility commissioners, a state agency. we need electric utilities and developers to stand up and be part of the solution. so all hands on deck is what biden is calling for. but mr. hoffman, there are at least 15 states where governors openly deny or question. the existence of human made climate change. so how realistic is it that the change needed to

avert a climate catastrophe will be achieved on that level? well, it's important to remember that in the u. s, we do have a federal system. there's a lot of policy authorities that do in fact, reside with states and even cities and, and others. if you look at the way that this works for in the united states, what happens is that the bottom up actors are often pioneering the most ambitious policies and work that we've done has shown that over the us. if you look at the climate, the climate friendly actors in states, cities and businesses, it represents over 70 percent of u. s. economy. that's an economy, roughly the size of china's, of that, of actors that are taking steps to day to address climate change in and in business way. and one of the things that then happens is that these actors take steps that actually deliver emissions reductions in their own states that benefit their own citizens directly. but they also make it possible for other governors, other places around the country to look to those examples and see, look,

maybe they don't sort of talk about climate change. but maybe they like the jobs that come with clean energy. for example, wind electricity in texas. and so they might in fact take steps to enhance clean energy, even if there are oppositional on climate as a general philosophy. they might now when it comes to reducing consumption and emissions, the u. s. is in a very different position than europe. nobody is threatening to turn of gas supplies, isn't studying millions of people on for a winter without heating today. that problem was addressed by the european commission that's listening and get right back to you. we have to address and this is for the 1st time our energy security at the european level put in is trying to push us around this winter. and this he will dramatically failing if we stick together. and we'll get then stronger out of this crisis than we went into this crisis. i'm deeply convinced. and hope one is still with me. so without an autocrat and breathing down people's necks, where will the impetus in the us come from to trigger more urgent climate action

and shift to renewable energy? well, i think what we will see is that there's, there's going to be increased pressure as we talked about a minute ago on the sub national actors. so there will be increased pressure in states and cities and other places for those entities to do more. there will answer undoubtedly be increased action happening at the federal executive and regulatory space. so in other words, like we talked about before from the biden administration, not from congress, but through these executive actions. and in terms of your question about where the social pressure comes from, i think that actually if you look at polling, yes, we do have a country with very polarized politics. and i think we need to see that and recognize that for what it is at the same time. support for clean energy, specifically, and jobs that relate to clean energy is extraordinarily high, often pushing 70 or 80 percent in even diverse diverse political contexts and even support for addressing climate change has been growing rapidly. in fact, now a majority of americans believe climate change is a threat and an issue that needs to be tackled. how that refract specifically in

the policy environment that they're in, in wyoming or texas or wherever it is. that's actually something that we'll have to see there will continue to be federal action. but ultimately, i think we're going to see the impetus, primarily from the us, is actually on the positive story of clean energy jobs and positives sort of aspects of the technologies that are in fact better. whether it's heat pumps or electric vehicles. that people then choose with some policy support to deploy more rapidly. alright, i want to quickly ask you about the commission today, asking member states to reduce gas consumption by 15 percent heavily relying on voluntary cut backs by citizens. what do you think of that approach? well, we've someone else's that is certainly i've seen and we've done some ourselves, shows that there are plenty of good opportunities to deploy technologies rapidly. and as your earlier reports noted, to sort of enhance supply wherever possible. but it looks like that might not be

enough for this winter. and frankly, at that point, you do have to look to reducing consumption. and a number of studies have shown that even simple steps like reducing thermostats, by a degree or, or 2 degrees, but not much in households across europe can actually make a huge dent in consumption. and i know it's a coordination issue, and i know it's a question about how many people will in fact do that. but those are quite effective if you can get people to get on board. all right, need help and thank you so much. thank you. ah, russia, an invasion of ukraine has that political analysts asking themselves if taiwan could be next. china considers the democratically govern island its own territory. one major concern is that beijing could, as sees a taiwanese outpost, like the kin men islands. they were a watershed in the chinese civil war. they're politically part of taiwan,

but are close to the chinese coast. and many residents are pro china. during the pandemic, ty wants to spend a direct ferries and flights to the mainland, and those links still haven't been restored. locals now fear they'll be abandoned by taipei and followed up by beijing. t w's. joyce lee reports the ferries from kidman to mainland china have been idle for 2 and a half years. so is the tourism industry on the island? won't show megs. so in the shop has suffered from the lack of tourist visiting, but he's also worried about security and relations with china fell on the valuable me. rejected what i want to peacefully unify with china equal. we must not quit our ties, or else we will become enemies. our ties of china have prevented warmth, shine and no use the people of kin. women are not hostile. are lou savvy? won't attackers. we a lot of us now. she, the one shows us a bomb shout. i liked the one he hid in as a child,

when the communist attacked his from their generation that experienced war with china. now, he says he would accept anything to survive. power in good battle pots. yo, jim, and you say followed. she waved taiwan and china go to war. can mind that would be done for you? would you the high one can't. protectors is too far away to give his military support. if war comes, i will defense to the communists for the sake of survival, willow, tiana, ethiopia tinman was an antique ominous front line. during the cold wall, residents were cut off from even their relatives on mainland china, and they were also unable to freely travel to mainland taiwan. many felt like they didn't belong to either side. opening direct links to china 20 years ago, east cross tray tensions can madness now the most pro beijing part of taiwan. it's only 5 kilometers away from the chinese. said he, salmon,

many came my residence hoping to build a bridge to get to the other side portrayed and medical care. but opponents rejected the idea. calling it a trojan horse that could aid a chinese invasion. henry lane, as of the generation that not experienced a fighting, he built his war game business on widespread interest in recent history and wants to show customers was at stake to day who find that hawaii time. so do a lot of your degeneration fought so hard to defend our land, so we can have such an advanced democratic and free country if we give ourselves so easily to the communist, those fellows or who blood, sweat and efforts will be in vain by faith del henry has family and business ties with maine and china. the economic growth day impresses him, but he says, ty, once freedoms are more important, quote will gain ego. when you knew who the communist regime control was your mind, we must be loyal and obey or dislike a robot. where in taiwan,

we encourage diversity and individuality. to me, freedom of fort and expression are very important to me also. of course i don't want to reunify with china garza but you always people in kenman disagree over whether they want to join china. but they all one to avoid a war that will surely be devastating. the day is almost done, but the conversation continues online. you'll find us on twitter either at steve. we news or let me nickel underscore for you. thank you so much for spending parts of your day with

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