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CLIMATE CRISIS

Europe could soon face ‘nearly 100,000 deaths a year linked to extreme heat’

More than 61,000 people died due to the heat during Europe's record-breaking summer last year, a study said on Monday which called for more to be done to protect against even deadlier heatwaves expected in the coming years.

Europe could soon face 'nearly 100,000 deaths a year linked to extreme heat'
A pharmacy sign displaying the temperature of 44C amid a heatwave in Nantes, France in July 2022 (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)

The world’s fastest warming continent experienced its hottest summer on record in 2022, as countries were hit by blistering heatwaves, crop-withering droughts and devastating wildfires.

The European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat had reported an unusually high number of excess deaths over the summer, but the amount directly linked to the heat had not been previously quantified.

A team of researchers looked at data on temperature and mortality from 2015 to 2022 for 823 regions across 35 European countries, covering a total of 543 million people.

The researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and France’s health research institute INSERM used models to predict the deaths attributable to temperature for each region in every week of 2022’s summer.

They estimated that 61,672 deaths were linked to the heat between May 30 and September 4 last year, according to the study published in the journal Nature Medicine.

A particularly intense heatwave in the week of July 18-24 caused more than 11,600 deaths alone, the study said.

“It is a very high number of deaths,” said Hicham Achebak, an INSERM researcher and study co-author.

“We knew the effect of heat on mortality after 2003, but with this analysis, we see that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to protect the population,” he told AFP.

More than 70,000 excess deaths were recorded in 2003 during one of the worst heatwaves in European history.

Women and over-80s vulnerable

Last year France recorded the biggest rise in heat compared to its previous summer average, with a jump of 2.43C, the study said.

Switzerland was not far behind with a 2.30C rise, followed by Italy with 2.28C and Hungary with 2.13C.

Italy had the highest death toll linked to the heat with 18,010, followed by Spain with 11,324 and Germany with 8,173.

The majority of deaths were of people over the age of 80, the study said.

Around 63 percent of those who died due to the heat were women, the analysis said.

The difference became more stark over the age of 80, when women had a mortality rate 27 percent higher than men.

Previous research has shown that Europe is warming at twice the global average.

While the world has warmed an average of nearly 1.2C since the mid-1800s, last year Europe was around 2.3C hotter than pre industrial times.

Unless something is done to protect people against rising temperatures, by 2030 Europe will face an average of more than 68,000 heat-related deaths every summer, the new study estimated.

By 2040, there would be an average of more than 94,000 heat-linked deaths — and by 2050, the number could rise to over 120,000, the researchers said.

“These predictions are based on the current level of vulnerability and future temperatures,” Achebak said.

“If we take very effective measures, that vulnerability can be reduced,” he added.

Raquel Nunes, a health and climate expert at the UK’s Warwick University not involved in the research, said the study “highlights the urgent need for action to protect vulnerable populations from the impacts of heatwaves”.

Chloe Brimicombe, a climate scientist at Austria’s University of Graz, said it “demonstrates that heat prevention strategies need to be re-evaluated, with gender and age especially in mind”.

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POLITICS

‘Laughing stock of Europe’: What’s the new crisis to hit Austria’s coalition government?

Austria's environment minister went against the government's will and voted in favour of controversial EU legislation. Chancellor Nehammer now accuses the minister of 'abuse of office'.

'Laughing stock of Europe': What's the new crisis to hit Austria's coalition government?

It’s the latest crisis between centre-right ÖVP and its junior Green coalition partners. This one will make its way up to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), according to statements given by Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) on Monday (17).

This is due to the fact that Austria’s Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler broke with coalition partners to help pass a controversial EU-level law. “I know I will face opposition in Austria on this, but I am convinced that this is the time to adopt this law,” Gewessler told reporters.

The Federal Chancellery promptly responded to Gewessler’s unilateral action: “Austria will bring an action for annulment before the ECJ,” it said. Her vote was “not in line with the domestic will and therefore could not be cast in accordance with the constitution”, the Chancellor’s office said.

READ ALSO: Europe warned it must do more to deal with climate crisis

Gewessler will be charged with suspected abuse of office, ÖVP Secretary General Christian Stocker announced in a press release.

“There is a suspicion that Leonore Gewessler is acting unlawfully and knowingly against the clear guidelines of the Constitutional Service and against the constitution with her approval of the ordinance – this constitutes abuse of office,” Stocker said.

What was voted?

At the core of the discussion is a controversial EU law known as the “EU nature restoration law”. The legislation mandates the restoration of at least 20 percent of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030 to restore all ecosystems in need by 2050. This landmark bill aims to address the decline of Europe’s natural habitats, a significant portion of which are currently assessed as being in poor condition.

The legislation includes specific targets for various ecosystems, including peatlands, forests, grasslands, wetlands, rivers, lakes, and coral beds. Member states are required to improve at least 30 percent of these habitats by 2030, with this target increasing to 60 percent by 2040 and 90 percent by 2050.

The conservative ÖVP party has been against the regulations, consistently reasserting Austria’s abstention vote for two years now since the EU Commission presented the package that included the “nature restoration law.” 

But now, Gewessler’s rogue vote was crucial for the legislation to pass. Austria’s vote, which was a mystery until the very end, was decisive.

Although a clear majority of states voted in favour anyway, the necessary quorum of 65 percent of EU residents was only achieved because of Austria. In the end, 66.07 percent of the EU population voted in favour of the law.

Can Gewessler vote against the Chancellery decision?

That’s complicated, and the courts will decide. 

The Chancellor argues that Austria had already been notified to abstain, a position based on “a uniform opinion of the Regional Governments (Bundesländer), binding for the Federal Government under Austrian constitutional law, as well as the lacking consensus within the Austrian Federal Government ”. 

He means that Austrian states have also agreed not to back the proposal. However, in May, two states, Vienna and Carinthia, pulled out of this vote, as Der Standard reported. This makes it unclear, even among constitutional lawyers, whether there is still a “uniform opinion” and whether Gewessler would be bound by it, the report added.

READ ALSO: Why Vienna is a haven for wild animals – and where you can find them

Criticism from SPÖ and far-right

The SPÖ and FPÖ criticised Gewessler and Nehammer for their actions on Monday. The two had made Austria “the laughing stock of Europe”, said SPÖ climate spokesperson Julia Herr in a press statement. 

“What we are currently experiencing is basically the continuation of the last five years of black-green, only with tougher strikes because the election is approaching,” she said.

Meanwhile, far-right FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl demanded that Nehammer take responsibility for Gewessler’s “ideology-driven solo effort”. In his opinion, the law meant the “death” of domestic agriculture and the security of supply with domestic food.

The major environmental NGOs were very pleased with the approval of Gewessler’s EU nature restoration law: Greenpeace spoke of a “milestone” in a press release, the WWF saw “historic progress”, and Global 2000 saw an “important tool in the fight against the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis”.

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