Europe faced unprecedented heat stress in 2023, with summers becoming hotter and more deadly due to global warming. Two leading climate monitors, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service and the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO), released a report highlighting the severe health implications.
Prolonged exposure to heat stress—caused not only by high temperatures but also by factors like humidity, wind, and heat reflecting off concrete—can significantly compromise health and even lead to death. Over the past two decades, heat-related deaths in Europe have surged by around 30% as summer heatwaves grow longer and more intense.
\"We're seeing an increasing trend in the number of days with heat stress across Europe and 2023 was no exception,\" said Rebecca Emerton, a climate scientist at Copernicus. Last year saw a record number of \"extreme heat stress\" days, equivalent to feels-like temperatures exceeding 46 degrees Celsius, Emerton explained. \"At this point, it's imperative to take actions to avoid health risks such as heat stroke.\"
On July 23, during the peak of a summer heatwave, an unprecedented 41 percent of southern Europe experienced strong, very strong, or extreme heat stress. This marked the largest area affected by such levels of heat stress in Europe as recorded. Copernicus reported that parts of Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey endured up to 10 days of extreme heat stress, while southern Spain faced up to 80 days of very strong heat stress.
The escalating heat stress across Europe underscores the urgent need for effective climate action to protect public health and mitigate the impacts of rising global temperatures.
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Increasingly hot European summers are harming health, report says
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