Heat aggravated by carbon pollution killed 50,000 in Europe last year - study

Related: Heat-related mortality in Europe during 2023 and the role of adaptation in protecting health (Nature Medicine)

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Source: The Guardian

Heat aggravated by carbon pollution killed 50,000 in Europe last year – study

Continent is warming at much faster rate than other parts of world, leading to fires, drought and health problems

Ajit Niranjan Europe environment correspondent
Mon 12 Aug 2024 16.00 BST
Last modified on Tue 13 Aug 2024 00.04 BST

Hot weather inflamed by carbon pollution killed nearly 50,000 people in Europe last year, with the continent warming at a much faster rate than other parts of the world, research has found.

The findings come as wildfires tore through forests outside Athens, as France issued excessive heat warnings for large swathes of the country, and the UK baked through what the Met Office expects will be its hottest day of the year.

Doctors call heat a “silent killer” because it claims far more lives than most people realise. The devastating mortality rate in 2023 would have been 80% higher if people had not adapted to rising temperatures over the past two decades, according to the study published in Nature Medicine.

Elisa Gallo, an environmental epidemiologist at ISGlobal and lead author of the study, said the results showed that efforts taken to adapt societies to heatwaves had been effective.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/12/heat-aggravated-by-carbon-pollution-killed-50000-in-europe-last-year-study