Al Jazeera reported that around 2,300 people may have died from heat-related causes in 12 European cities during the severe heat wave that ended last week, with two-thirds of deaths being directly linked to climate change.
The analysis, published Wednesday, focuses on a 10-day period from June 23 to July 2, during which most of Western Europe was hit by extreme heat, with temperatures of 40 degrees (F 104) in Spain and wildfires destroyed in France.
It covered 12 cities with a total population of over 30 million, including Barcelona, Madrid, London and Milan. The study stated that climate change increased the temperature of the heatwave by up to 4C (39.2F).
Of the 2,300 estimated deaths during this period, 1,500 deaths are linked to climate change, which has made the heat wave even more severe, according to a study conducted by more than 12 researchers from five European institutions in the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland.
“Climate change is much more dangerous because it’s much hotter than it was,” says Ben Clark, a researcher at Imperial College in London, one of the institutions involved in the study.