The latest heat wave causes more than 800 deaths in Milan, Barcelona and Paris.
Catalonia becomes ground zero for the climate crisis, with temperatures 2.5°C above the global average.
BarcelonaThe heatwave that hit Europe between June 23 and July 2 pushed temperatures up to 4°C and increased the number of expected deaths for this period, especially in Italy, Catalonia, and France. The culprit behind these "silent deaths"—because they go unrecorded and official government estimates can take months to be published or never be made public—was the climate crisis caused by the burning of oil, gas, and coal, according to a study led by Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
The report finds that the number of heat-related deaths observed in 12 European cities during the latest heat wave has tripled the expected number: 1,500 out of the 2,300. Milan, with 317 victims; Barcelona, with 286; and Paris, with 235, lead the list of cities with the highest excess mortality. Together, they add up to more than 800 deaths. This list is completed by London (with 171 victims), Rome (164), and Madrid (108). Also included are the 96 deaths in Athens, the 47 in Budapest, the 31 in Zagreb, the 21 in Frankfurt, and the 6 in Sàsser, Sardinia. Despite having recorded 21 more deaths, Lisbon is considered an exception in this study, as temperatures were only about 1°C higher.
According to the researchers, the probable number of deaths from climate-related heat in many European cities was higher than in other recent disasters, such as the DANA in the Valencian Community (224 deaths) and the 2021 floods in northwestern Europe (243 deaths). People aged 65 and over accounted for 88% of climate-related deaths. Ben Clarke, a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, is blunt: "Heatwaves don't leave a trail of destruction like wildfires or storms, but they are quietly devastating: a change of just 2 or 3°C can mean the difference between life and death for thousands of people."
The signatories of this analysis warn that "the only way to prevent European heatwaves from becoming even more deadly is to stop burning fossil fuels." "Switching to renewable energy, building cities that can withstand extreme heat, and protecting the poorest and most vulnerable are absolutely essential to saving thousands of lives every year," stresses Friederike Otto, professor of climate science at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London.
Worse than cities like New Delhi
All forecasts indicated that the Mediterranean would be one of the areas most affected by global warming, and now the data proves it. Catalonia has recently experienced its worst and longest drought on record. This episode, lasting more than three years, has also been accompanied by soaring temperatures, with positive anomalies hovering around 2.5°C above average—much higher than most of the planet—and exceeding the 1.5°C sustained temperature increase compared to the pre-industrial period set by the Paris Agreement. This makes our country a "ground zero of the climate crisis" on a global scale, with temperature anomalies and exceptionalities greater than those of cities like New Delhi, Tokyo, or Athens.
These are the overwhelming conclusions of a study by the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (Meteocat) published today, which analyzes the droughts experienced in our country from 1787 to 2024. The last three years—coinciding with the drought—have been the warmest in history, and have been the warmest in history, and have been the warmest in history, 2.5°C on average during the three-year period 2022-2024. Only Mediterranean cities such as Rome or Marseille have recorded similar or slightly higher anomalies. The study highlights that there is no precedent for what we have experienced in recent years, which makes this episode "a compound drought-heat event of exceptional singularity," notes Vicent Altava, Meteocat technician and drought expert, in the report.
The Meteocat report also concludes that droughts are becoming longer, more intense, and more frequent. Furthermore, the rainy periods that allow the land to recover between dry spells are shorter. Therefore, the water deficit is not recovered, which drives aridification. "If we continue like this, future droughts could reach the level of a climatic drought, which can transform a territory's landscape," Altava asserts. The expert is blunt: "Catalonia is immersed in a profoundly altered climate context and an inertia that could be irreversible." The study also points out that the hydrological sub-basins in northern and eastern Catalonia, such as the Muga, Fluvià, and Ter rivers, are the most likely to experience increased drought.