Over 50,000 killed in Europe over summer due to worst heat wave on record

Over 50,000 people were killed in Europe this summer due to a record heat wave, according to a new analysis in Nature Health. The study attributed over half of the deaths to climate change driven by fossil fuel pollution, with temperatures reaching 2.9°C above the 1991-2020 average.

Over 50,000 people were killed in Europe this past summer due to a brutal heat wave, marking it as the deadliest the continent has ever faced, according to a new analysis published in two peer-reviewed papers in the journal Nature Health. The report, cited by CNN, attributed over half of the deaths to climate change driven by fossil fuel pollution. Temperatures reached levels 2.9 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average, with some areas seeing periodic temperatures over 12 degrees Celsius above the average. The UK and other generally cooler European regions also suffered from thousands of heat-related deaths. The analysis evaluated 854 European cities in 30 countries, comparing recorded temperatures with those estimated after removing climate change from the equation. Over 800 people between the ages of 20 and 44 were killed, though the highest rates were among those 85 and older. The death toll was substantially higher than the 2022 and 2003 summer heat waves, and the highest in 26 years. The journal also found that fossil fuel pollution-driven climate change accounts for about two-thirds of modern heat-related deaths, compared with around 40% earlier this century. The findings come as world leaders are set to attend annual UN climate talks in Turkey.