“If no adaptation measures are taken, under the scenario of a global temperature increase of 3°C by 2100, 90,000 Europeans could die every year due to heat waves,” emphasizes the key messages of a report published today by the EEA.
Unless action is taken, 90,000 Europeans are at risk of dying every year from extreme heat by the end of the century, as heat waves pose the most serious threat to human health linked to climate change, the European Environment Agency warns today ( EEA).
“If no adaptation measures are taken, under the scenario of a global temperature increase of 3°C by 2100, 90,000 Europeans could die every year due to heat waves,” emphasizes the key messages of a report published today by the EEA.
If the increase in temperature is limited to 1.5°C, the goal of the Paris agreement, these numbers will drop “to 30,000 deaths a year”, he adds, citing a 2020 study.
From 1980 to 2020, an estimated 129,000 Europeans died due to heat waves, according to figures from the European Environment Agency, which highlights an alarming increase in recent years.
The combination of increasingly frequent heatwaves, an aging population and high urbanization makes Europeans more vulnerable to high temperatures, especially in the southern states, the EEA points out.
The day before Monday, the European office of the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted that at least 15,000 deaths in Europe were directly linked to heat waves in the summer of 2022.
In addition to repeated heat waves, climate change is making Europe increasingly susceptible to the outbreak and transmission of infectious diseases.
Some mosquito species, which transmit malaria and dengue fever, live for longer periods in Europe, the Agency points out. Rising temperatures also favor the spread of bacteria in the water, especially in the Baltic Sea the Vibrio bacteria, the best known of which is responsible for cholera.
However, preventive and surveillance measures can prevent fatal consequences for humans.
“A wide range of solutions must be implemented, such as drawing up effective action plans to deal with heat waves, urban greening, improving the climate efficiency of buildings and adapting working hours and conditions” , according to the report, which emphasizes that a large proportion of heat-related deaths can thus be avoided.
RES-EMP
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