Europe's heat and fire crisis and the new fossil-fuel surge from artificial intelligence

Europe is now the fastest-warming continent, with 2024 its hottest year on record.1,2 Recent summers have been devastating, with heat contributing to an estimated 61 700 deaths in 2022 and 47 000 in 2023, with roughly half of all heat- and pollution-related mortality reflecting cardiorespiratory causes.3,4 Public-health agencies note that heat already accounts for >95% of climate- and weather-related deaths in Europe, a risk amplified by ageing populations and intensifying urban heat.5 Dry conditions are also fuelling more frequent and severe landscape fires with >440 000 hectares having burnt in Europe this year, over twice the area in 2024 (189 000 hectares).6 Collectively, these events are driving surges in air pollution and heat-triggered spikes in ischaemic events, heart-failure decompensation, dehydration-related acute kidney injury, and heat stroke, overwhelming emergency departments.