Climate crisis caused half of European heat deaths in 2022, says study

Researchers found 38,000 fewer people — 10 times greater than the number of people murdered — would have died if atmosphere was not clogged with greenhouse pollutants

Researchers found 56% of the heat-related deaths could have been avoided if the world had not been warmed by burning fossil fuels and the destruction of nature. Picture: Octavio Passos/Getty Images

Climate breakdown caused more than half of the 68,000 heat deaths during the scorching European summer of 2022, a study has found.

Researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) found 38,000 fewer people would have died from heat if humans had not clogged the atmosphere with pollutants that act like a greenhouse and bake the planet. The death toll is about 10 times greater than the number of people murdered in Europe that year.