Europe’s Heat Waves and How Cities Can Adapt

The summer of 2023 has been one of the hottest on record, globally. Europe has especially been hard-hit: during massive heat waves that rolled across southern Europe in July, temperatures as high as 118 degrees Fahrenheit, including 107 degrees in Rome and 114 degrees in parts of Greece. Meanwhile, wildfires caused by extreme heat led to the evacuation of thousands in Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy. 

Image by Jonathan Borba.

What’s clear from this summer is that the effects of climate change are coming home – and not just to developing countries, which have disproportionately been affected by climate-changed fueled droughts and natural disasters, but now also to industrialized countries in the Global North, which are responsible for the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions to date.

This isn’t the only devastating heat wave that has hit Europe. In 2003, the continent’s hottest year on record, some 70,000 people died from heat-related causes. Last summer, around 60,000 are estimated to have died directly from heat waves. As Europe is faced with the prospect of repeated future heat waves, the way it reacts and innovates to the crisis can help inform how we navigate our hotter future. 

What Is Responsible for Heat Wave Deaths?

The summer’s extreme heat wave is due to an anticyclone, or high-pressure system, that resulted in warmer air and reduced cloud cover over Europe. This results in higher “very strong stress” days on the human body, which can result in deaths from heat stroke, exhaustion, and dehydration. In parts of Spain last year, there were 50-60 days of very strong heat stress – or days where it's dangerous to be outside for extended durations – over a 70 day summer.

Sunrise over London, England skyline. Image by Jack Atkinson.

This is directly related to climate change. The annual temperature for 2022 was the second warmest on record for Europe, and only 0.3°C cooler than 2020, the warmest year on record. The ten warmest years on record for Europe have all occurred since 2000, and the five warmest years have all occurred since 2014. 2023 is set to be the second warmest on record, again only behind 2020. 

What Can Be Done to Reduce Deaths?

Scientists and climate activists say that European countries have missed key opportunities to adapt their cities since the devastating 2003 heatwave. Even though governments today are committed to reducing their carbon emissions – to varying degrees of seriousness – temperatures are expected to continue to climb for the foreseeable future. 

Partially this is because historically European cities are hesitant to change the architecture of their towns – such as painting the red-tiled roofs of Florence white to reflect sunlight – out of worries of affecting their cultural heritage. And laws intended to preserve historical old towns make it difficult to make changes, such as adding more trees or replacing asphalt, even when there is political will to do so. 

The easy fix is to install more air conditioners into houses and apartments, which are rare compared to in the United States. But while this can help reduce deaths short-term, it contributes to climate change long-term, by increasing energy usage and demanding more fossil fuel consumption to meet demand in turn. This can result in more deaths overall as heat waves become more frequent and harsher as temperatures increase. 

One solution is to make cities more “green”. This includes adding plants to streets and rooftops to reduce “heat islands” in cities, which absorb heat and can make certain parts of a city several degrees hotter than ones with plenty of parks and tree cover, and by reducing usage of asphalt, which also absorbs heat. Several cities are doing this now: In Paris, some schoolyards are being transformed into green spaces for locals to escape the heat, for example.

An example of “vertical garden” green infrastructure on a building at Aeres University, Netherlands. Image by JW Vaneck.

Turning to Traditions

Another option is to return to traditional housing used in Greece, Spain and Portugal to keep houses cool without turning to air conditioning. Modern buildings are built largely with asphalt and concrete, and trap heat inside. These traditional buildings, in contrast, incorporate large open windows to allow air to flow freely, as well as thick walls that absorb heat into the stone during the day and release it at night, keeping the interiors cool. 

Future construction projects in parts of Europe affected by heat waves can incorporate these traditional methods, helping reduce the impact of intense heat for people – especially elderly people – who find themselves at home when heat waves strike. 

As temperatures continue to rise, heat waves aren’t going away anytime soon. But by adapting European cities in these ways, we can reduce the impact – and the amount of deaths that result from climate-change fueled heat waves – as the world attempts to get emissions under control.