A catastrophic heatwave has left a trail of destruction across Europe, claiming more than 1,300 lives within just a few days.
France was hit hardest, reporting approximately 1,000 heat-related fatalities in a three-day window, while Spain recorded hundreds of additional casualties.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 150 million people are currently living under extreme heat warnings, making Europe the fastest-warming continent on the planet, heating up at twice the global average.
A definitive study by the World Weather Attribution group confirmed that this extreme event would have been "virtually impossible" in previous decades without climate change. Driven by greenhouse gas emissions, extreme daytime temperatures are now ten times more frequent than at the start of the 21st century.
Even more alarming, dangerously hot nights, which prevent the human body from recovering, have become a hundred times more common, with June temperatures in Western Europe rising at triple the global average rate.
