The heatwave wreaking chaos across Europe is a “dramatic warning” to reject climate naysayers, a European Commission vice-president says.

Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president for a clean, just and competitive transition, lambasted those who listened to the “vested interests” of the fossil fuel industry rather than scientists and their own citizens.

“This is a dramatic warning being sent once again by nature on what it means to have a different climate system,” she told the Guardian. “What we are experiencing today [in the form of record heat] is what we knew could happen, but we have not been smart enough to address the root causes. There is still this fierce fight against facts, science, preparedness, and investment [in clean energy], so we are failing people. We need to reject this kind of bullshit based on lies, and against people’s interests.”

Teresa Ribera: ‘We need to reject this kind of bullshit [climate crisis denial] based on lies, and against people’s interests.’ Photograph: Mauro Ujetto/LaPresse/Shutterstock

The record heat of the past week is set to abate this week in parts of western Europe, but Germany, Czechia, Poland and Hungary reached record temperatures of more than 40C on Sunday as the heatwave spread east. Italy and the Balkans felt the impact of the scorching temperatures on Monday, with growing concerns over the spread of wildfires, while Ukraine’s energy grid was buckling under temperatures in excess of 36C. Schools and tourist attractions have closed, businesses have sent staff home, some nuclear reactors have had to be taken offline, and the World Health Organisation said the early summer heatwave was responsible for more than 1,300 excess deaths, although the true toll will not be known until later.

Ribera recalled listening as a teenager to a Spanish song called 37 Degrees, about what happens when the temperature rises that far – something she experienced for only a few days a year in Madrid at that time. Today, she said, “that could be three, four, five weeks, and even in London, in Paris, in Berlin”.

A woman uses a fan to cool her baby amid a heatwave, during mass led by Pope Leo in St Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, on Monday 29 June. Photograph: Yara Nardi/Reuters

She blamed “nonsense and ideologically driven lies” peddled by vested interests for suggesting that climate policies – such as the EU’s “green deal” suite of measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions, protect nature and shift to a low-carbon economy – were unpopular.

“I am tired of hearing ‘people don’t back the green deal any more’… it is not true,” she said. “People prefer to ensure fresh water that is not polluted. People prefer breathing clean air, or counting on a healthy ecosystem, than having polluted water, no capacity to ensure crops and harvests, and [heat that means] a city becomes not liveable.”

Instead, those in positions of authority should seize on the heatwave to remind people “that we cannot accept being bullied and stay silent” by the fossil fuel industry and its supporters. “We cannot allow people manipulating and targeting climate action just to hide the vested interests that may gain in the short term incredible profits for a few, [while] betraying the whole of humankind,” she said.

Europe’s brightest economic prospects lay in renewable energy, Ribera added. “When people speak about competitiveness, we cannot think of a competitive industry in Europe if we need to rely on something we do not produce, which is fossil fuels.”

Ribera was the environment minister of Spain from 2018 to 2024, during which time the government pushed heavily for renewable energy. Owing to that massive build-out of solar and wind power, while other countries have had rising energy bills in the wake of the US-Israel offensive in Iran, Spain now enjoys some of the cheapest electricity in the EU.

Solar panels in the Las Rozas, Spain. Spain now enjoys some of the cheapest electricity in the EU. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

“[We had to] change the economics to ensure that the whole transformation was anchored in opportunities for people,” she said. “The first thing was to face down coal.”

If Europe failed to see through its transformation to a low-carbon, renewable energy driven economy, the whole world would suffer, Ribera added. “This is why it’s so important that Europe succeeds: a failure or derailment could mean so many other people in the world thinking, ‘OK, that was an illusion, it does not deliver’. So we need to resist these demands to slow down, accept fossil fuels for longer – it’s not going to help at all. We have a great opportunity to keep building and accelerating the change, and build resilience to be prepared for a hotter, drier or more risky reality.”

Ribera, who has chief responsibility for the green deal and Europe’s climate policy, also warned about the climate risks posed by AI. She called on datacentre developers to reduce their impact on water resources and energy supplies, before creating a backlash in areas where they are sited. “If we want to avoid clashes with local communities, it’s good to follow this advice [voluntarily], before it becomes a rejection.”