Barcelona ranks third in Europe for climate change heat deaths, study finds

Barcelona recorded the third-highest number of heat deaths attributable to climate change in Europe this summer, according to a new study. 

Researchers at Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found that 786 deaths in the Catalan capital were due to extreme heat. 

The study suggests that without global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels, approximately 630 of these deaths could have been avoided. 

This means that climate change is believed to be responsible for 80% of the Barcelona's heat-related fatalities. 

Only Milan (1,156 excess deaths) and Rome (835) reported more deaths linked to extreme heat than Barcelona. Madrid ranks seventh on the list. 

Europe

Across Europe, researchers estimate that 24,400 people died in 854 cities due to high temperatures between June and August. 

Of those, 16,500 could have been prevented in the absence of global warming, implying that human-induced climate change was responsible for more than two out of three (68%) heat-related deaths continent-wide. 

People aged 65 and over accounted for 85% of the total fatalities. 

In Spanish cities, 2,841 of the 3,893 heat-related deaths recorded during the summer can be attributed to climate change, roughly 72% of the total. Only Italy reported a higher number. 

Climate Central report  

In parallel, a separate report by scientists at US non-profit Climate Central revealed that between June 1 and August 31, approximately 30 million people in Spain experienced an average of 31 additional days of extreme heat compared to a scenario without climate change. 

Over this three-month period, Spain endured 55 days of extreme temperatures, whereas in a climate-stable world, that figure would have been just 24. 

Valencia, Madrid, and Barcelona experienced 43, 37, and 33 additional days of extreme heat respectively due to climate change. The Catalan capital ranked tenth among European cities with the highest number of additional extreme heat days this summer.