Study Links Thousands of Heatwave Deaths in Europe to Climate Change
LONDON – A new rapid study has found that climate change may have driven thousands of excess deaths across European cities during this summer’s scorching heatwaves.
Researchers from Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine used climate models and historical mortality data to estimate that soaring temperatures between June and August led to around 24,400 excess deaths in 854 European cities. Nearly 70 percent — about 16,500 deaths — were linked directly to global warming, the study said.
Scientists noted that official figures are not yet available, as most countries take months or years to release mortality data. Instead, the team relied on established methods used in previous peer-reviewed studies to quickly assess the toll.
“Real-time statistics are impossible to get right now, but these estimates are in the right ballpark,” said Friederike Otto, one of the study’s authors.
Rome saw the highest climate-linked toll with an estimated 835 deaths, followed by Athens with 630 and Paris with 409. More than 85 percent of the victims were aged 65 or above, underscoring the vulnerability of older populations.
Experts stressed that the findings align with earlier peer-reviewed work, including a Nature Medicine study that found more than 47,000 heat-related deaths during Europe’s summer of 2023.
“This is even more alarming because the methods used are scientifically robust yet conservative — the true toll could be higher,” said Akshay Deoras, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Reading.
Researchers warned that even a 2–4°C spike in heatwave temperatures can spell the difference between life and death for thousands. “That’s why heatwaves are known as silent killers,” said co-author Garyfallos Konstantinoudis.
This year marked Europe’s fourth-hottest summer on record, intensifying concerns about how global warming is reshaping the health risks of extreme weather.
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