European heatwave - excess deaths: comment
The June 2026 heat wave was the most extreme heat event ever experienced in Europe.
By Gareth Redmond-King
info@eciu.netShare
Last updated:
Commenting on rapid analysis [1] that suggests the European heatwave may have killed more than 20,000 people - some 862 in the UK - between 22-28 June, Gareth Redmond-King, Head of International Programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said:
“This is a horrifying indication of the likely human cost of extreme weather as our climate slides further out of balance, and our planet gets hotter.
"Until we stop burning fossil fuels, and cut our emissions to net zero, climate change will continue to get more dangerous - claiming more and more lives. It makes heatwaves more intense, more frequent, and therefore more dangerous, and its fingerprints were all over this European heatwave.
"But we have El Niño coming along to throw fuel on the flames - already breaking records with ocean temperatures. So the urgency to act is getting greater, faster, if we want to save lives, cut costs, and protect our food security.”
Notes to editors:
1. The pre-print study is available here: https://zenodo.org/records/21083733 and the author can be contacted at ccallah@iu.edu.
For more information or for interview requests: George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: 07894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net