Climate Change Caused 3X More Deaths in European Heatwave

Recent findings show that climate change significantly intensified the impact of a recent European heatwave, resulting in three times more heat-related deaths than would have occurred without global warming. Scientists point to rising temperatures driven by human-induced climate change as a key factor in the increased mortality. The study underscores the growing health risks posed by extreme weather events and calls for stronger climate policies and public health strategies to mitigate future heatwave-related fatalities.

Summer had only just begun in Europe this year when the region faced its first major heatwave. Several Western European countries issued health warnings as they endured intense heat during the final days of June and into early July.

Experts overwhelmingly agree that global warming is driving both the frequency and severity of heatwaves worldwide. Western Europe, in particular, has seen a noticeable rise in extreme heat events over the past few years. Research indicates that human-driven climate change has made these high temperatures far more common, especially in nations like the UK, France, Spain, and Italy, temperatures that would have been rare in the absence of global warming.

A team from the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London conducted a swift assessment of how climate change influenced the number of excess deaths linked to heat during this recent heatwave. They applied recognized health impact models to evaluate how many excess deaths occurred under actual conditions and compared this with a modeled scenario that excluded the estimated temperature increase linked to global warming, approximately 1.3°C higher than pre-industrial levels.

In most of the 12 cities studied, excluding Lisbon and Milan, the heat attributed to climate change raised temperatures by 2 to 4°C, significantly affecting both how the heat was felt and its impact on public health. The visual data clearly demonstrates that these extra degrees substantially increased the number of deaths, nearly tripling the estimated heat-related mortality across these cities. Notably, the added heat had a similar impact across all age brackets. Although individuals over 75 were still the most vulnerable, climate change was responsible for about 60% of excess deaths in all age groups.

To summarize, the researchers concluded that out of an estimated 2,300 heat-related deaths during this event, approximately 1,500, roughly 65%, could be linked to temperature increases of 1 to 4°C due to climate change. This effectively means that climate change nearly tripled the death toll during the recent heatwave.

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Source: Statista‍