The impact of human-induced climate change is becoming increasingly evident across Europe. Nearly 10,000 people have died during this year's intense summer heatwaves in Germany and several other European countries, with more than 5,000 of those deaths recorded in Germany alone, according to Reuters.
Germany's public health agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), said on Thursday that an estimated 5,120 people have died from heat-related causes so far this year. Most of the deaths occurred in late June, when weekly average temperatures rose well above 20 degrees Celsius.
In its weekly report, the RKI said around 4,270 of the victims were aged 75 or older. More women than men died, mainly because women make up a larger share of the very elderly population.
The German figures add to an increasingly alarming picture across Europe. The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said in a bulletin released on Thursday that Western Europe recorded its hottest June on record, with an average temperature of 20.74 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, national authorities in France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands reported more than 4,700 excess deaths during the June 20-28 heatwave. Older people have been the hardest hit by heat-related deaths across Europe, while record-breaking temperatures and rising excess mortality have renewed concerns over the growing risks posed by extreme weather.
Separately, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that heatwaves, once considered a once-in-a-generation event, are now occurring almost every year because of climate change and global warming.
He noted that Europe is currently the world's fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising at roughly twice the global average. The WHO has called on European countries to implement heat-health action plans to better prepare for and respond to extreme heat.