Overview

• The studies, led by Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, used established attribution methods to assess mortality during Europe’s June–August heatwaves.
• The teams analyzed mortality and temperature records for 854 cities covering about 30% of Europe’s population, finding an average summer warming of 2.2°C with peaks up to 3.6°C.
• They estimate roughly 24,400 excess deaths in those cities over the summer period, with nearly 70% — about 16,500 — attributable to human-caused climate change.
• A separate rapid analysis for 23 June–2 July across 12 major cities attributes about 1,500 of roughly 2,300 heat deaths to climate change, with Milan (~317) and Barcelona (~286) highest in absolute terms and Madrid exceeding 90% in relative share.
• Older adults accounted for most of the toll — 85% were 65 or over — and the authors caution the figures are preliminary and likely conservative while urging emissions cuts and targeted urban heat adaptation.