Depending on extent of mitigation measures adapted, up to 2.3 million climate change-related deaths can occur this century<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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THURSDAY, Jan. 30, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Heat-related deaths are expected to climb throughout Europe this century due to climate change, according to a study published online Jan. 27 in Nature Medicine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Pierre Masselot, Ph.D., from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and colleagues estimated how climate change could affect future heat-related and cold-related mortality in 854 European urban areas, under several different scenarios. <\/p>\n The researchers found that with no adaptation to heat, the increase in heat-related deaths consistently exceeds any decrease in cold-related deaths across all considered scenarios in Europe. A net death burden due to climate change increased by 49.9 percent (2,345,410 climate change-related deaths) between 2015 and 2099 under the lowest mitigation and adaptation scenario (SSP3-7.0). Even under high adaptation scenarios, this net effect would remain positive, with risk attenuated by 50 percent, but still insufficient to reverse the trend under SSP3-7.0. Regional differences show a slight net decrease of death rates in Northern European countries but high vulnerability within the Mediterranean region and Eastern Europe areas.<\/p>\n “Our results stress the urgent need to aggressively pursue both climate change mitigation and adaptation to increased heat,” Masselot said in a statement. “This is especially critical in the Mediterranean area where, if nothing is done, consequences could be dire. But, by following a more sustainable pathway, we could avoid millions of deaths before the end of the century.”<\/p>\n