Heat wave — Energy vs. climate — Crypto spotlight

We dive into the politics of this week's hot topic — Europe's response to a devastating heat wave and how that impacts current energy troubles. We also look into a debate over crypto currencies and how they should be regulated across the EU.

POLITICO's Bjarke Smith-Meyer hosts this week's episode, which kicks off with a heated discussion on this week's devastating heat wave across Europe. Karl Mathiesen, our senior climate correspondent, explains why natural disasters like this can be expected more often and shines a light on the disparity between Europe's efforts to cope with climate change compared to other parts of the world.

Aitor Hernández-Morales, author of POLITICO's Living Cities newsletter, tells us which cities in Europe have been most effective at helping their residents deal with the heat — and why Southern Europeans feel left behind by Brussels' policies to address the issue. And Zia Weise, our reporter covering climate policy, explains how policymakers are trying to balance climate policies with the current issues Europe is facing when it comes to energy.

Then we turn our focus to crypto currencies and the EU's attempt to regulate this uncharted territory of new-age finance. We hear from Faryar Shirzad, the chief policy officer of Coinbase, which is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. Also joining the podcast is Ernest Urtasun, a Spanish member of the European Parliament from the Greens. He weighs in on the EU's newly-passed legislation regulating cryptocurrencies, the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation (known in Brussels as MiCA).

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