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Fri 20 Feb 2026
Around the world, global heating is already giving us more frequent heatwaves, and when we get them they are lasting longer and bringing more heat.
As burning fossil fuels adds more and more heat to the planet, climate scientists know these trends will get ever more deadly.
According to the medical journal the Lancet, heat extremes caused an estimated 546,000 deaths every year between 2012 and 2021 – a 63% rise on rates seen in the 1990s.
