The heatwaves that swept the Continent were responsible for more than two-thirds of the 24,400 heat-related deaths estimated in Europe this summer, or 16,266 people, according to a new study conducted by scientists at Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Bloomberg reported on September 19.

The research, based on temperature data from June through August, attributes the fatalities to a series of extreme heatwaves across the continent, during what was Europe’s fourth-warmest summer on record.

Temperatures reached as high as 46°C in parts of Italy, France and Germany, leading to the deaths of several outdoor workers and prompting closures of major tourist sites including the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Acropolis in Athens.

“These numbers represent real people who have lost their lives,” said Friederike Otto, a co-author of the study, as cited by Bloomberg. “If we continue on the path that we are now — continue burning fossil fuels — these deaths will only increase.”

The Climate Crisis is accelerating. The IPCC says that the Paris Agreement goal of keeping temperature increases to less than 1.5°C-2°C above the pre-industrial benchmark has already been missed and temperature increases are on course to reach a catastrophic 2.7C-3.1C by 2050. At that point extreme temperature events will become routine and large parts of the world will become uninhabitable.

The new peer-reviewed study is part of a growing field known as “attribution science”, which seeks to determine the influence of human-caused climate change on extreme weather events. By examining 854 urban areas, researchers found that temperatures during the three-month period were up to 3.6°C higher due to greenhouse gas emissions.

Although the research focused on less than one-third of Europe’s population, scientists cautioned that the true number of heat-related deaths is likely much higher. Previous studies have estimated that more than 60,000 people died from heat exposure in the summer of 2022, with more than 47,000 in 2023.

Europe remains the fastest-warming continent globally, with the Mediterranean identified as a climate hotspot. Increasingly severe heatwaves are affecting not only public health but also economic activity, particularly in the tourism sector.

A related Nature study earlier this year found that just 180 "carbon majors" are largely responsible for fuelling the record temperatures and collectively have done $28 trillion worth of economic damage by not containing their emissions.

“These deaths are not just statistics — they are avoidable,” Otto added. “Every fraction of a degree of warming we avoid saves lives.”