A scorching early summer heatwave has killed more than 2,200 people across Europe — and climate change was to blame for nearly two-thirds of those deaths, according to new analysis by Imperial College London.
Between 23 June and 2 July, cities across the continent saw record-breaking temperatures.
London, Paris, Madrid and Milan all baked in blistering heat, but behind the headlines lay a far grimmer picture: 2,286 excess deaths in just 10 days across 12 European cities.
Scientists now say roughly 1,470 of those deaths wouldn’t have happened without the added impact of climate change.
Researchers used temperature and mortality data to show how global warming has turbocharged extreme weather events.
In this case, it pushed temperatures between 1°C and 4°C higher than they would have been in a pre-industrial climate — enough to turn a hot spell into a lethal one.
“This study demonstrates why heatwaves are known as silent killers,” said Malcolm Mistry, senior author and lecturer in climate change and health.
“While a handful of deaths have been reported in Spain, France and Italy, thousands more people are expected to have died from heat-related causes.”
Elderly vulnerable
The analysis found that 88% of the climate-related deaths were in people aged 65 and older, highlighting how older populations remain especially vulnerable.
In Athens and Rome, older people accounted for more than 90% of the toll.
It wasn’t just southern
Europe. Stockholm, a city known for its cooler climate, saw more than 140 heat-related deaths during the same period. Warsaw, London and Vienna also saw higher-than-usual mortality as temperatures spiked across the continent.
Crucially, this research is among the first to put a hard number on how many lives are lost during a single climate-fuelled event — and who is most at risk.
As global temperatures continue to rise and heatwaves become more intense and frequent, the researchers warn that these kinds of mass mortality events could become the norm during summer months – unless action is taken to adapt urban areas and protect vulnerable groups.
Europe’s heatwave kills thousands appeared first on Energy Live News.