Europe's summer heatwaves were responsible for over 30,000 deaths, study predicts

Europe's heatwaves were responsible for over 30,000 deaths this summer, a new study predicts. According to the analysis, a total of 33,000 heat-related deaths were recorded across just eight countries – Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.The last week of June was the summer's deadliest, with nearly 16,000 excess deaths recorded. This is ahead of the first week of July, which saw 8,000 heat-related deaths across Europe. Here in the UK, a recent study estimated that the May and June heatwaves claimed more than 2,700 lives, with almost half of those deaths fuelled by climate change.Dr Claire Barnes, a research associate in Extreme Weather and Climate Change at Imperial College London, said: 'Every time we have a heatwave, our news is filled with reporters at swimming pools, images of people eating ice cream and sunbathers on beaches.'We all love the sun, but people need to be aware that we are now seeing dangerous climate–change fuelled heat that is claiming lives, disrupting schools and hospitals and shutting down transport and infrastructure.'It's time we woke up to the fact that we now live in a country with dangerously hot summers.' Europe's heatwaves were responsible for over 30,000 deaths this summer, a new study predictsThe analysis was carried out by AFP, based on data provided by EuroMomo.'While EuroMomo does not publish breakdowns of deaths by country, various national health authorities have published provisional tolls covering comparable periods stretching roughly between the end of May and August,' AFP explained. An AFP count of those tallies found 33,000 excess deaths or deaths directly linked to the heat across just eight countries.In Germany, there were 14,000 deaths linked to heatwaves through August 9 – a record since records began in 2016, according to the Robert Koch Institute.Over in France, an estimated 7,300 people died between late-May and July 22.'The summer's tally is all but certain to rise, as the long heat wave that began in late July has just come to an end,' AFP said. In Spain, nearly 4,500 deaths were blamed on heat between June 1 and August 19, while Belgium's provisional tally is even deadlier, relative to its small population. According to estimates, the country saw 2,570 excess deaths between June 18 and July 17. In France, an estimated 7,300 people died between late–May and 22 July. Pictured: firefighters battle a forest fire near Blagon on 29 JulyThe number of excess deaths in the Netherlands sits at 968 between June 22 and July 5, in Austria at 396, and in Portugal at more than 600 from mid-June and the end of July. Here in the UK, a study published in mid-July found that during two heat spikes in May and June, an estimated 2,700 people died. A team that included the Met Office and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) combined historical mortality records with statistical models to estimate the death toll from each heatwave.Dr Malcolm Mistry, Assistant Professor in Climate and Geo-spatial Modelling at LSHTM, said: 'With climate change driven by human activity making summer heatwaves more frequent and more intense, these spikes of extreme hot weather are rapidly evolving into a major health risk for people in the UK.'It is vital that action on adapting Britain's homes, workplaces, and critical infrastructure to extreme heat outpaces these health risks, especially if we are to protect those most vulnerable to its impacts, such as older people, babies, and children.'While southern England saw the highest temperatures, estimates suggest the death rate was similar in the Midlands.With this region less frequently exposed to extreme heat, it suggests residents there are more vulnerable to the impacts.Gareth Redmond-King, Head of International Programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said: 'More than a thousand people died in the last two heatwaves as a result of the additional heat added by climate change, caused by the burning of oil and gas.'Temperatures simply wouldn't have been as high and whilst it's particularly the vulnerable – the elderly, the very young, and less well–off who are least able to cope with the extremes that climate change brings, with NHS hospitals having to cut services, this poses a growing risk to everyone.'In the here and now, air conditioning for hospitals and schools is a costly yet crucial next step, but the only way to halt climate change, and stop our summers getting hotter and hotter, and more and more deadly is to reach net zero emissions and bring balance back to the climate.'