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Around 15,000 people at least died because of the heat wave this summer in Europe. It is the WHO that says so, when the COP opens in Sharm-el-Sheikh. The final balance sheet should be much higher, provided that we know it one day.
With our correspondent in Geneva, Jeremiah Lance
The expression “all the lights are red” has never been more relevant than to qualify the months of June, July and August 2022 in Europe, the hottest summer ever recorded. The hottest month of August. And record greenhouse gas emissions due to fires who scarred the continent.
►Also read: Western Europe overwhelmed by heat wave and forest fires
The WHO does not yet have all the data for each country. But already, we know that heat waves, which often kill indirectly by aggravating pre-existing pathologies, have caused 4,500 deaths in Germany, 4,000 in Spain and 3,200 in the UK.
In France, more deaths than during the heat wave of 2003?
As for France, INSEE reported an excess mortality of 11,000 people during the summer, compared to 2019. This does not mean that the heat killed 11,000 people, because the Covid is also responsible for these deaths. But it is quite likely that the 2022 heat wave killed more people than that of 2003 in France.
According to WHO data, extreme temperatures have been responsible for 148,000 deaths in Europe over the past fifty years. The year 2022 alone would represent more than 10% of this total. ” Climate change is already killing us, but strong action today can prevent more deaths “, Underlines the UN health organization.
What the WHO, and more generally the UN, is saying implicitly is that Europe must wake up and stop believing that it is the developing countries that will first suffer from global warming. The phenomenon is global. Europe is also the region that is warming the fastest just after the Arctic.