Europe warming twice as fast as global average led to 16,000 premature deaths in 2022

Since the 1990s 90% of Iceland's glaciers have been retreating and projections for the future show a continued and strong reduction in size of its five ice caps. Picture: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average in the past four decades, with heatwaves alone contributing to more than 16,000 premature deaths last year.

The State of the Climate in Europe 2022 report, which was released in Dublin on Monday as a major climate change conference got underway, said the continent was approximately 2.3C above the pre-industrial average in 2022, far ahead of the 1.5C global marker for temperature rise limits.