MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – The impact of climate change on deaths from heat and cold in European cities – E-000645/2025

Question for written answer  E-000645/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
César Luena (S&D)

A new article published in Nature Medicine magazine[1], based on an in-depth study of 854 European cities, provides clear evidence that net mortality in Europe will increase even in the most benign climate change scenario. The assessments show that the net burden on health will increase substantially in scenarios involving extreme warming, and that this trend can only be reversed by bringing in adaptation measures on a massive scale in urban communities.

Bearing in mind that the study emphasises the importance of adaptation to heat:

• 1.How is the Commission intending to incorporate more robust adaptation measures into the EU’s strategy on adaptation to climate change, in particular with regard to urban communities and the most vulnerable age groups?
• 2.Will the Commission be addressing this increasing risk to public health specifically in EU climate legislation?
• 3.Given the regional disparities where the projected impact of climate change is concerned, with the most serious net effects in southern Europe, is the Commission planning to address this inequality as regards vulnerability to climate change in its next proposal for a multiannual financial framework?

Submitted: 12.2.2025

• [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03452-2.