Vienna, Nov. 25 (BNA): Summer heat waves in France, Germany, Spain and Britain caused more than 20,000 “excess” deaths, according to a report that collected official figures.
Reuters said temperatures reached close to 40 degrees Celsius or more from Paris to London in 2022 and climate scientists from the World Weather Attribution group found those high temperatures would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change.
The 2003 heat wave caused more than 70,000 excess deaths across Europe, mostly in France, and prompted many countries to implement measures such as early warning systems, requiring people to screen others and opening air-conditioned schools.
This and related action plans may have mitigated some of the impact of heatwaves in 2022, said Chloe Primicombe, a heatwave researcher at the University of Graz in Austria, but the death toll is still “higher than expected”.
Because authorities do not attribute most deaths directly to heat, statisticians use the hyperbola formula to give an estimate, given how many more people died in a given period than would be expected compared to a historical baseline.
Heat can kill by inducing heatstroke, which damages the brain, kidneys, and other organs, but it can also lead to other conditions such as heart attack or breathing problems.
The World Meteorological Organization said this month that Europe has warmed more than twice as much as the rest of the world over the past three decades, while the Copernicus Climate Change Service said summer 2022 was the hottest on record.
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