Heat killed nearly 50,000 in Europe in 2023: study

High temperatures which scientists say are being worsened by human-driven carbon emissions caused nearly 50,000 deaths in Europe last year, a study published Monday found.

The study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health estimated that 47,690 died in connection with heat during the world's warmest year and Europe's second-warmest year on record.

In the past decade, only 2022 was deadlier, the annual report found, with more than 60,000 heat-related deaths.

Published in the journal Nature Medicine, the study took in temperature and mortality records from 35 countries across the continent.

The authors highlighted that older people were most at risk, with countries in southern Europe worst affected by the heat.

More than half the deaths occurred during two periods of high heat in mid-July and August, when Greece battled deadly wildfires. The mercury hit 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) on July 18 in Sicily.

The report cautioned that the headline figure was an estimate, adding it was 95 percent confident the mortality burden was between 28,853 and 66,525.

But it also found that heat-related deaths would have been 80 percent higher were it not for action taken by European governments in the 21st century to adapt to hotter summers.

"Our results highlight the importance of historical and ongoing adaptations in saving lives during recent summers," said the authors.

The report also showed the "urgency for more effective strategies to further reduce the mortality burden of forthcoming hotter summers", they added, urging more proactive measures to combat global warming.

Europe, where the United Nations says temperatures are rising quicker than the rest of the globe, has experienced a growing number of often deadly heatwaves since the turn of the century.

Scientists say that climate change is making extreme weather events like heatwaves more frequent, longer and more intense.

Earth registered hottest July on record

Last month was the hottest July on record, making it the fourteenth straight record-breaking month, a US environmental agency reported Monday.

The monthly report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also said that 2024 now has a 77 percent chance of being the warmest year on record.

The July calculation by NOAA contradicted the EU's Copernicus climate monitor, which -- using a different dataset -- calculated last month's average temperature as being slightly lower than July 2023.

However both agencies agree on the alarming trend of record-breaking heat, with the past year seeing month after month of new highs.

According to NOAA, whose historical data goes back 175 years, 2024 will definitely be one of the five hottest years on record.

In July, the global temperature was 2.18 degrees Fahrenheit (1.21 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century average of 60.4F (15.8C), the US agency said.

The month saw a series of heat waves across Mediterranean and Gulf countries, NOAA said.

Africa, Europe and Asia recorded their hottest July on record, while North America was the second hottest.

Ocean temperatures were their second warmest ever in July, according to NOAA -- the same reading as Copernicus.

Scientists at Copernicus noted last week that "air temperatures over the ocean remained unusually high over many regions" despite a swing from the El Nino weather pattern that helped fuel a spike in global temperatures to its opposite La Nina, which has a cooling effect.

Last year was also the warmest year on record.

"The devastating effects of climate change started well before 2023 and will continue until global greenhouse gas emissions reach net zero," she said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus.