A study by Nature Medicine reveals that carbon pollution-driven heat waves resulted in nearly 50,000 deaths across Europe last year, with the continent warming significantly faster than other regions.
This comes as wildfires rage near Athens, France, faces excessive heat warnings, and the UK experiences its hottest day of the year. Doctors warn that heat is a “silent killer,” causing far more deaths than often recognized.
The study notes that the 2023 death toll would have been 80% higher without recent adaptations to rising temperatures.
Elisa Gallo, an environmental epidemiologist at ISGlobal and the study’s lead author, noted that the results indicate that adaptation measures to heat waves have been effective.
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“But the number of heat-related deaths is still too high,” Gallo warned. “Europe is warming at twice the rate of the global average – we can’t rest on our laurels.”
Researchers have found that cooler European countries like the UK, Norway, and Switzerland will experience the largest relative increase in uncomfortably hot days.
However, the highest absolute death toll will remain in southern Europe, which, while more accustomed to the heat, faces extremely high temperatures.
In 2023, heat-related mortality was highest in Greece at 393 deaths per million people, followed by Italy with 209 deaths per million and Spain with 175 deaths per million.
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Scientists suggest that governments can protect people from heatwaves by designing cooler cities with more parks and less concrete, implementing early warning systems to alert residents of impending heat dangers, and enhancing healthcare systems to prevent overwhelming doctors and nurses during extreme temperatures.
