European Environment Agency (2022) Climate change as a threat to health and well-being in Europe: focus on heat and infectious diseases. . Publications Office of the European Union, Luxemburg, 73 pp. ISBN 978-92-9480-508-9 DOI 10.2800/67519.

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Abstract

Climate change poses multiple threats to human health and well-being in Europe. Extreme weather events, such as devastating floods, extensive wildfires or intense and long‑lasting heatwaves, that are more likely and more severe due to the changing climate have become part of our reality in recent years. The greatest direct climate-related threat to human health in Europe is heat, and the large number of excess deaths attributable to extremely high temperatures and prolonged heatwaves during the summer of 2022 is a case in point. Despite high average living standards, Europe's ageing society and prevalence of chronic diseases make its population particularly vulnerable to heat. The exposure of vulnerable groups to heat is increasing, driven not only by more frequent and intense heatwaves but also by ongoing urbanisation and the associated urban heat island effect, the fact that buildings and cities in most of Europe have not been constructed to protect people from high temperatures, or outdated work practices that ignore the dangers of heat exposure to human health. Vulnerable socio-economic groups are particularly affected by heat. This high vulnerability, combined with the projected substantial global warming, creates a dire picture of a future with growing numbers of heat-related deaths and ailments, as well as reduced labour productivity, affecting well‑being and prosperity across Europe. Climate-sensitive infectious diseases are another type of emerging threat discussed in this report. The increasing suitability of the climate for various pathogens or their vectors may translate into higher likelihood of disease transmission in larger parts of Europe. The arrival of travellers and goods into Europe from regions where dengue or malaria is endemic, combined with the increasing suitability of climate conditions for the mosquitoes that carry those diseases becoming permanent in parts of Europe, increases the probability of disease outbreaks.

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