High heat killed 50,000 Europeans this summer.

Heat killed ‘staggering’ 50,000 people in Europe’s cities this summer, scientists warn

People succumbed to heat at highest rates in Malta, Italy and Hungary, with health issues, loneliness and poverty exacerbating toll

Heat-related urban mortality attributable to human-induced climate change in Europe in summer 2026

The summer of 2026 was characterised by a series of extreme heatwaves across Western Europe, with both monthly and annual temperature records broken repeatedly across many countries from May onwards. Several government agencies took the unprecedented step of issuing near-real-time estimates of the mortality associated with the most intense heat events, reflecting the severity of the threat to public health. In this study we combine probabilistic climate attribution with city- and age-specific temperature–mortality relationships to estimate heat-related mortality in 854 European cities during the summer months (June-August) and compare with counterfactual climate conditions representing a world without human-caused warming. We estimate 50,391 heat-related excess deaths across the 854 cities during the summer, with around two thirds of these attributable to anthropogenic climate change. These results highlight the threat from human-caused warming and the need for rapid emissions reductions alongside preparation and adaptation measures.

Heat-related urban mortality attributable to human-induced climate change in Europe in summer 2026

The summer of 2026 was characterised by a series of extreme heatwaves across Western Europe, with both monthly and annual temperature records broken repeatedly across many countries from May onwards. Several government agencies took the unprecedented step of issuing near-real-time estimates of the mortality associated with the most intense heat events, reflecting the severity of the threat to public health. In this study we combine probabilistic climate attribution with city- and age-specific temperature–mortality relationships to estimate heat-related mortality in 854 European cities during the summer months (June-August) and compare with counterfactual climate conditions representing a world without human-caused warming. We estimate 50,391 heat-related excess deaths across the 854 cities during the summer, with around two thirds of these attributable to anthropogenic climate change. These results highlight the threat from human-caused warming and the need for rapid emissions reductions alongside preparation and adaptation measures.

Brutal June heat wave killed as many as 14,000 Europeans

POLITICO calculations show thousands of excess deaths across six worst-hit countries.

Belgium had the highest excess mortality rate in Europe during June heatwave

People living in poorer regions were hit hardest by the extreme heat.

We’re the mayors of Paris, Milan and Phoenix. The heat crisis has us all facing the same question | Emmanuel Grégoire, Giuseppe Sala and Kate Gallego

Our three cities are learning from each other about how to protect residents. These climate policies are also public health measures

'Hotter and hotter and hotter' - Europe's new climate in seven charts

Temperature records were smashed in June - and scientists warn this is a sign of things to come.

Summer’s new normal is a hazard that’s testing Europe’s climate resilience

As people across Europe are having to acclimatise to an unprecedented heatwave, coordinated responses for tackling extreme heat need to come from the top, and there’s no time to lose.

Did the hot summer make more people worry about climate change? Here’s what the latest indications show

Around 65% of the British public are now concerned about climate change.

3,400 deaths in a day: India's extreme heat days are deadlier than we imagined

Official counts of "heatstroke deaths" are often low, sometimes just a few hundred in a bad season, because many heat-related deaths are not labelled as such. This implies that the toll could be much higher.

Natasha Walter: We’ve gone from climate denial to something worse – climate fatalism

The message in the western media, as global heating becomes undeniable, seems now to be that nothing can be done. That is unacceptable – especially for those in developing countries who are suffering so greatly from the crisis we created

A Blackened Ecology for the End of the Summer

Every summer in the past 16 years Europe and North America—and not only—is affected by global warming evident through the heat waves and wildfires they experience while research from the past decad…

Majority of US voters link extreme weather to climate crisis, study finds

Top Democrat says findings show public ‘way ahead of the politicians’ as Trump dismisses global heating as ‘hoax’

Hotheads

Steady temperatures are the preserve of the rich. The billionaire press wants everyone else to suffer.