The climate crisis was responsible for more than half of the European deaths during the heatwave in 2022, researchers found

30. 10. 2024, Others

Researchers claim that if the atmosphere had not been polluted with greenhouse gases, there would have been 36,000 fewer deaths on the European continent during the summer of 2022. Thus, climate change was responsible for more than half of the over 60,000 deaths.

Researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) state in their study published in the journal Nature that substances acting like a greenhouse and warming the planet caused ten times more deaths among Europeans than the number of homicides in the same year. “Many see climate change as a future problem,” led author Thessa Beck said to The Guardian. “However, our findings underscore that it is already a pressing issue.”

The warm weather caused more deaths among women than men, more among southern Europeans than northern Europeans, and more among older people than younger people. Scientists, not just those involved in this study, knew that carbon pollution had intensified heatwaves, but they did not realize how much it contributed to the increase in the death toll. They have now found that 56% of heat-related deaths could have been avoided if the planet had not warmed due to the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of nature. Furthermore, this trend is increasing, with the percentage rising from 44% to 54% over the previous six years.

Europe is not prepared

“Even a small increase in temperatures can have devastating impacts on public health,” confirms Emily Theokritoff, a researcher at Imperial College London who was not involved in the study. “This result makes sense—heat-related deaths increase rapidly as temperatures exceed the limits that people are accustomed to and able to acclimatize to.” Europe is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, but doctors warn that European hospitals are unprepared for the consequences. The rise in temperatures forces more people to endure unbearable summer heat, which overburdens their bodies. This then leads to a diminished ability to resist illnesses during the colder winter months.

Residents of Paris cool off in the fountain at Trocadéro

Risk for Vulnerable Populations

Scientists further predict that if the planet warms by more than 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, the number of deaths due to this will continue to rise. Last week, the UN environment program warned that the world is on track to heat by more than 3 °C by the end of this century. “The dangers of extreme heat are even greater in Africa, Asia, and South America, but we have a lack of data for studies on how this heat affects human health,” said Beck. “A common misconception is that serious risk comes only from extreme temperatures. However, our study, along with previous research, shows that even moderate increases in temperature can lead to deaths, particularly among more vulnerable populations,” she adds.

What If

Previously, scientists used data on the relationship between heat and health from 35 European countries to estimate how many more people die as a result of hot weather. In the new study, they ran a model with temperatures for a hypothetical world where humans had not warmed the planet. They found that climate change was responsible for 22,501 heat-related deaths in women and 14,026 in men. Garyfallos Konstantinoudis, a researcher at Imperial College London, believes, however, that the authors may have overestimated the impact of heat on mortality because they did not account for how people have adapted to the changing climate through specific changes in infrastructure and improvements in healthcare.

To protect themselves from the heat, doctors recommend drinking water, staying indoors during the hottest parts of the day, and looking after older neighbors and relatives who live alone. Governments can save lives by creating action plans for hot weather, designing cities with more green space and less concrete, and reducing CO2 emissions. In Europe, more than a quarter of emissions come from transportation.

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