As wildfires, heatwaves, and extreme weather are becoming a permanent feature of European summers, insurers warn that the region faces a growing “protection gap” as disaster recovery costs outpace insurance coverage.

A gigantic wildfire ravaging parts of France and Spain began in July and has destroyed over 300,000 acres of land, in what’s been described as a “clap of thunder” for the local economies. More recently, Greece saw a wildfire outbreak worsened by 100 km per hour winds.

To top it off, the region has seen several heatwaves over the summer that have prompted red alerts, threat-to-life warnings, and droughts, as temperatures have regularly exceeded 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Some of Europe’s biggest insurance companies told CNBC this week that the region isn’t adequately prepared to deal with the risks of wildfires and weather disasters, leaving a substantial share of financial damage uninsured.

Zurich Insurance Group’s CEO Mario Greco said all weather risks are insurable, but it is becoming increasingly expensive to deal with the costs.

“We have a lot of experience from the U.S. and Australia that wildfires can be prevented, can be mitigated, but they require systemic intervention, which often countries, local jurisdictions, governments-they’re not ready to do because they don’t really visualize, they don’t feel the risk yet, but the risk is there,” Greco said in an interview with CNBC’s Carolin Roth on “Squawk Box Europe,” on Thursday.

Extreme weather can drag on the fiscal budget of countries, as costs related to cooling, healthcare, emergency infrastructure, transportation, and agriculture can weigh on the wider economy.

Additionally, Insurance companies paid out $56.3 billion in losses for wildfires in the 2010s, six times more than the $8.7 billion they paid in the 2000s, a report from Allianz Commercial noted in June. The sectors hardest hit include utility and energy, real estate, construction, agriculture, and transportation.

The devastating Los Angeles wildfires in January last year highlighted the destruction of assets of some of America’s wealthiest residents, costing insurance firms Munich Re and Hannover Re a combined $1.9 billion in the first quarter of 2025.

According to the Swiss Re Institute, the LA wildfires were the costliest wildfire event globally, amounting to insured losses of $40 billion and driving total natural catastrophe insured losses for 2025 up to an expected $107 billion.

The total cost of wildfires and heatwaves up to the end of July cost around 3.1 billion euros ($3.5 billion), for five Eurozone countries most exposed to the fires, including Greece, Spain, Portugal and Romania, according to calculations by the Financial Times. That’s above an average estimate of a 2.5 billion euro annual impact for the whole of the EU.

In comparison to the U.S., much of…

Greece is entering its second week of wildfires spread by extreme winds as more countries in Southern Europe battle with heatwaves.

The wildfire, which broke out in Western Attica near the Greek capital Athens, has been worsened by Greece’s gusty, dry winds known as Meltemi, which affects the country during July and August. In some areas, the winds have reached speeds of 80 to 100 km per hour, several outlets have reported.

Two firefighters, a Danish pilot and a Greek fire service official died, after two helicopters collided in the Western Athens region on Sunday. Two firefighters in the second helicopter survived after making an emergency landing and are currently in the hospital.

As winds eased on Monday, water-bombing aircrafts took to the skies to continue fighting the flames.

A monster wildfire broke out in France’s Bordeaux region in late July and spread to parts of Spain. It has burned hundreds of thousands of acres across the two countries. Described as an “unprecedented” and “historic” situation, it forced the largest evacuation in France’s history.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has told its customers in the European Union it will stop providing services to them from next week because it will not be licensed to operate in the region.

According to a Financial Times report on Friday, the exchange’s application for a bloc-wide license in Greece failed last week.

All crypto asset businesses have to obtain a license under the bloc’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation by July 1, or risk penalties.

In a response to CNBC, the company said it will pursue an authorization in another EU member state. Citing people familiar with Binance’s thinking, the FT reported that the exchange now intends to apply for a license in France, but any approval is likely to come well after the July 1 deadline.

Binance customers in Poland, Italy, Spain and France — where the company currently holds local licenses — have received emails this week telling them how to withdraw their money from the exchange, the FT reported.

Binance also told CNBC that “we will take the necessary steps before 1 July to remain compliant with applicable requirements.”

It added that some users may be impacted, but it would communicate with them to provide clear information on next steps.

The exchange is confident that it will be able to secure a license “in the coming months.”

Some EU-licensed rivals have been trumpeting their services following the development, including Eric Demuth, founder of Bitpanda.

“While others optimized for speed, we optimized for trust….You can like Europe’s regulatory approach or not, but the reality is that the EU values regulation and consumer protection. As a European company, we understood that from day one and built accordingly…If you’ve never tried Bitpanda, now is a good time,” Demuth wrote on X.

Star Xu, founder of OKX, also posted on X about his company’s “trustworthy crypto and fintech services”.

The latest setback for the crypto exchange comes after Binance had faced investigations and criminal charges in recent years. The company has been banned in the UK since 2021. 

In 2023, Binance pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to money laundering and breaching international financial sanctions, resulting in more than $4.3 billion in penalties being paid to U.S. authorities.

Last year, French officials opened a judicial investigation into Binance, stating it was likely to have assisted in money laundering. Binance denied the allegations.

The company, which says it is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by volume, was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao. Zhao was sentenced to jail in 2024 for money laundering violations, before being pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2025.

Europe’s jet fuel crisis is threatening peak travel season, but consumers are instead looking to holiday closer to home to save money and avoid flight disruptions.

European airlines have taken a hit since the U.S.-Iran war began, as they battle surging fuel costs as well as a jet fuel shortage while the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked. The region typically imports 75% of its jet fuel from the Middle East.

Jet fuel prices increased 103% by the end of March compared to the month prior, according to the International Air Transport Association.

The International Energy Agency chief, Fatih Birol, warned in April that Europe was just weeks away from running out of jet fuel if it was unable to secure alternative export sources.

As fuel costs form around 20 to 40% of an airline’s operating costs, many are now offloading those costs by increasing surcharges and canceling unprofitable routes. German carrier Lufthansa, Scandinavian airline SAS, and Dutch-French airline Air France-KLM are among those cutting flights.

British holidaymakers are now looking at destinations closer to home in Southern Europe, including France, Spain, and Greece, and considering alternative travel options, including rail, as the Iran war raises the stakes of taking long-haul flights.

“I think the trend you will see this summer in Europe is people will start to holiday at home,” Ryanair‘s CEO Michael O’ Leary told CNBC’s Ben Boulos at the Norges Bank Investment Management Conference in Oslo in April.

 “I think people will increasingly decide, let’s book Portugal, Spain, Italy, and let’s avoid the Middle East or going long haul… we’re seeing people switch away from going to the Middle East or going long haul, towards going short haul,” O’Leary added.

The tiny, butterfly-shaped Greek island of Astypalea has all the ingredients for a relaxing vacation: myriad beaches with clear waters, great seafood and a castle perched above a traditional white town with winding alleys and views across the Aegean Sea.

It’s also less developed than its larger neighbors like Rhodes and Kos, and with a population of just 1,400, Astypalea made for a chilled holiday destination when I visited in June.

Some of the lanes in the island’s Chora — or capital — are so small that donkeys carry construction tools to hard-to-reach building sites, but the mode of transport most noticeable on Astypalea is a fleet of electric minibuses, part of a scheme called AstyBus — an unusual sight for the Greek islands.

It’s worth starting a trip to the island by visiting the remains of the 15th century Venetian castle high above the Chora, which was built on the site of other structures including from the Roman and Byzantine eras. From there I walked down towards the eight traditional, red-roofed windmills at the centre of the town, originally constructed to mill grain in the 13th and 14th centuries. At the bottom of the hill is the island’s small but fascinating Archaeological Museum, with artefacts from the pre-historic period to the Middle Ages.

To begin with, I used the bus to get from the bottom of the Chora to the top when it was too hot to walk up its winding streets, before exploring further.

My first stop was Maltezana, a winding 20-minute bus ride from the Chora, and Astypalea’s second-largest settlement. I disembarked a stop or two inland to look inside Agios Dimitros, a small church opposite Maltezana’s grocery store. While the church is painted in the traditional blue and white style on the outside, it is ornately-decorated inside, with bible scenes in blue and gold on its walls and ceiling.

A short walk from the church, a string of restaurants line a narrow beach. Its clear, shallow waters were pleasant to wade into after lazing under one of the scrubby trees on the sand.

Over the next few days I visited more beaches using the AstyBus: Schinonta, a quiet bay along from Maltezana, and tree-lined Livadi, which is just over the hill from the Chora, and has a few restaurants right on the beach.

The bus initiative is part of a grand plan to turn Astypalea into a “smart and sustainable island” — a partnership between the Greek government and Volkswagen. It claims to be a first of its kind initiative for the Greek islands, and aims to replace traditional combustion-engine vehicles with electric-powered cars, and support an overall shift to renewable energy.

Authorities want to keep the island unspoiled, putting the focus on sustainability and moderate development.