Ursula von der Leyen says this summer of extreme heat was a "mere preview" of the high temperatures to come.
The President of the European Commission spoke about climate very early in the speech, before mentioning AI or migration.
She did not mince her words when she listed the many places around Europe that experienced extreme weather this summer leading, she said, to 35,000 excess deaths.
She called the the repeated heatwaves "a summer of truth" in the annual State of the Union speech, in which policy and plans for the year ahead are laid out.
In a moving moment, she introduced the family of a firefighter who died fighting flames. The parliament gave a prolonged standing ovation in honour of the fallen hero.
What action will EU take after summer of extreme heat?
Von der Leyen said Europe "can, must and will stay the course of our climate targets".
She said mitigation, adaptation and preparedness must lie at the heart of Europe's approach to tackling extreme weather.
Von der Leyen announced a European Heatwave Plan, saying "there can be no repeat of this summer."
"We need better early warning systems and better health preparedness. We need urban adaptation and cooling. And we need to support the most vulnerable," von der Leyen said. The most common type of cooling - air conditioning - was the subject of intense debate around Europe this summer, as many questioned whether they should install it int he face of unprecedented temperatures.
'We will identify 100 of the most vulnerable territories in Europe'
Von der Leyen recognises that climate adaptation is becoming an immediate economic and public policy challenge rather than a long-term environmental issue, reports Euronews' Marta Pacheco, who is based in Brussels.
"We will present a new framework for climate resilience next month. We will identify 100 of the most vulnerable territories in Europe. And we will assess the risks — and at which level they should be managed," the Commission chief recalled as 660,000 hectares were burnt to the ground and roughly 12 million tonnes of crops were lost.
Von der Leyen also announced a new Climate Insurance Alliance.
"Today, only around 25 per cent of catastrophe losses in Europe are covered by private insurance. This means that, far too often, national budgets become the insurer of last resort. We need to take action to close this gap," the Commission chief told MEPs in Strasbourg.
