France and Spain, among the countries worst hit, began counting the toll from the extreme temperatures, with children among the victims.AFP calculations based on forecasts from the German weather service and 2025 population projections from the European Joint Research Centre indicated that more than 380 million people would face temperatures of over 30C.The heatwave -- made worse by buildings and infrastructure unsuited to such temperatures -- is being blamed by scientists on human-driven climate change."Europe's savage heatwave has the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it," said UN climate chief Simon Stiell."It's the latest price to pay for fossil fuel pollution baking our planet. Until humanity stops burning colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas, extreme heat will keep getting worse."
Scientists blame human-driven climate change for the high temperatures © Sabrina BLANCHARD, Sylvie HUSSON / AFP
Most of mainland France was under extreme heat alerts on Thursday, with some 63 million people out of a total population of 67 million facing temperatures of over 30C.The heat will also surpass 30C for 70 million people in Germany, 48 million in Italy and 38 million in the UK, with high temperatures also in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Temperatures are expected to fall in western Europe from Friday but eastern Europe was on red alert as temperatures climbed into the weekend.In Spain, where new temperature records have been set for June, the MoMo monitoring system of mortality rates said 212 deaths between Sunday and Wednesday could be linked to the heat.- Cooling off - The local authorities in northern France's Pas-de-Calais region said three deaths were "likely" caused by the heat, while police said a three-year-old child was found dead in suburbs.Two other children have died in similar circumstances this week.Swiss energy provider Axpo warned that it would have to temporarily shut down the Beznau nuclear plant due to high water temperatures in the Aare river.
