Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a plan to set up a climate shelter network on Wednesday.

A network of government buildings will be made available to the public by next summer to help protect against the increasingly severe heat waves.

The network will build on already existing schemes run in the autonomous regions of Catalonia and the Basque Country.

What did Spain's Sanchez say about the climate shelter network?

"Devastating droughts and heat waves are no longer rare," Sanchez said at a climate conference in Madrid.

"Some summers, it's not separate waves we face, but one long heat wave stretching from June through August. This is now the new normal." he stressed.

"Before next summer, we're going to set up a nationwide network of climate shelters, using government buildings — especially from the central administration — and making them available to everyone," Sanchez added.

The prime minister said that the government would also make funds available to set up shelters in the neighborhoods "that need them most, where the heat really hits people the hardest."

What is Spain doing about climate change?

The network of shelters is one of 80 concrete measures announced by Sanchez at the conference.

They were put together after some 4,000 proposals were sent in by citizens, ecologists and scientists.

The measures cover areas such as coastal and marine systems, investments to tackle flooding and fires in villages, and tackling false information on climate change.

Sanchez emphasized that 88% of the population considers climate change "a serious problem that we have to act on," including voters from all sides of the political spectrum, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE reported.

During the conference, the Spanish prime minister also fired off criticism of the EU's decision to weaken its 2035 ban on petrol and diesel cars, calling it a "historic mistake."

Climate change, caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, is already having major impacts on the planet and making life more difficult in many regions, including in Europe, where longer and more intense heat waves, wildfires and droughts are becoming the norm.

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko