Study reveals climate-driven summer heat deaths in Europe: comment

"I simply cannot think of anything else - fire, flood, Covid-19 - that would claim 16,500 lives with so little a response as heat. These numbers should shock commentators who pour scorn on heat warnings and suggest heatwaves are ‘just summer’. The fact is the human body is not designed to tolerate these worsening extremes of heat for prolonged periods and things are only set to get worse until we can bring balance back to our climate by reaching net zero emissions."

Gareth Redmond-King, Head of International Programme at the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said:

"Families in the UK and around the world are increasingly being hit by the tragedies that extreme heat can cause. Many here will still remember houses on fire when temperatures reached 40°C and have seen the footage of more frequent wildfires than ever before burning across the country. But behind the news coverage are the stories of often vulnerable or elderly people unable to cope with these new extremes. This comes on top of British farmers struggling to grow the food we eat as harvests are hit by too hot or dry conditions."