Some 2,300 people are likely to have died of heat-related causes across 12 European cities during a severe heatwave that ended last week, with two-thirds of the deaths directly linked to climate change, according to a new study.<\/p>\n
The analysis, published on Wednesday, focused on the 10-day period between June 23 and July 2, during which large parts of Western Europe were hit by extreme heat, with temperatures breaching<\/a> 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Spain and wildfires breaking out in France<\/a>.<\/p>\n It covered 12 cities with a combined population of more than 30 million, including Barcelona, Madrid, London and Milan, where the study said climate change had increased heatwave temperatures by up to 4C (39.2F).<\/p>\n Of the 2,300 people estimated to have died during this period, 1,500 deaths were linked to climate change, which made the heatwave more severe, said the study conducted by more than a dozen researchers from five European institutions in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland.<\/p>\n \u201cClimate change has made it significantly hotter than it would have been, which in turn makes it a lot more dangerous,\u201d said Ben Clarke, a researcher at Imperial College London, one of the institutions involved in the study.<\/p>\n \u2018Silent killers\u2019<\/p>\n The researchers used established epidemiological models and historical mortality data to estimate the death toll, which reflects deaths where heat was the underlying reason for mortality, including whether exposure exacerbated existing health conditions.<\/p>\n To assess what role climate change played, scientists compared how intense a heatwave would have been in a world that had not warmed due to burning masses of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n They concluded the heatwave \u201cwould have been 2-4C (35.6-39.2F) cooler\u201d without human-induced climate change in all but one of the 12 cities studied, noting that the added degrees greatly elevated the risk in these cities.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat that does [the increased temperatures] is it brings certain groups of people into more dangerous territory,\u201d said Clarke. \u201cFor some people, it\u2019s still warm, fine weather. But for now, a huge sector of the population, it\u2019s more dangerous,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n Heatwaves are particularly dangerous for the elderly, the sick, young children, outdoor workers and anyone exposed to high temperatures for prolonged periods without relief.<\/p>\n The effect on health is compounded in cities, where heat is absorbed by paved surfaces and buildings, making urban areas much hotter than their surroundings.<\/p>\n The scientists said they used peer-reviewed methods to quickly produce the estimated death toll, because most heat-related deaths are not officially reported and some governments do not release this data. A more definitive death toll from the recent heatwave could take weeks to produce.<\/p>\n \u201cAn increase in heatwave temperature of just two or four degrees can mean the difference between life and death for thousands of people,\u201d said Garyfallos Konstantinoudis, a lecturer at Imperial College London.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is why heatwaves are known as silent killers. Most heat-related deaths occur in homes and hospitals out of public view and are rarely reported,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n \u2018Difference between life and death\u2019<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the European Union\u2019s Copernicus Climate Change Service said in a monthly bulletin on Wednesday that last month was the planet\u2019s third-hottest June on record, behind the same month in 2024 and 2023.<\/p>\n