ABC News: Study Shows Man-Made Climate Change Killed 32,000 People in Europe This Summer

We can see why ABC News would be interested in this study — we are too. According to researchers, 50,000 people died due to extreme heat in Europe this summer, and somehow they were able to determine that two-thirds of these deaths could be traced back to man-made climate change. We're not sure how they could tell who died of naturally occurring summer heat and who died from climate change, so let's dig in and find out together.

Blistering record heat in Europe this summer killed more than 50,000 people, with nearly two-thirds of that death toll blamed on human-caused climate change, a new study found. https://t.co/0jaSN8b7HG

— ABC News (@ABC) October 23, 2026

Associated Press science writer Seth Borenstein writes:

Researchers modeled heat-related deaths for different age groups in 854 European cities during repeated heat waves in June, July and August and found that 50,391 people died from warmer temperatures, and of those, 32,619 died because of the extra heat caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas, according to a study in an upcoming issue of Nature Health.

…

The team used an established and accepted scientific method to figure out how many of the 50,000 heat deaths were from natural high summer heat and how many were due to what heat-trapping gases have done to the climate. They ran computer simulations of a world without climate change and compared it to the deaths that happened this summer. The difference is what was caused by global warming.

…

The scientific team also had to use statistical modeling to come up with the base count of 50,000 heat deaths because those deaths are underreported and often not listed in death certificates, despite being a major factor, Konstantinoudis said. Several outside experts agreed with him, calling the methods state-of-the-art.

Of course, buying into this state-of-the-art modeling is Sen. Bernie Sanders:

Climate change killed 32,000+ people in Europe this summer. Trump believes this crisis is a "hoax." Republicans in Congress are following their "Great Leader.” NO to Trump’s fossil fuel agenda. YES to creating millions of jobs by moving our energy system away from fossil fuels.

— Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 23, 2026

How about no, commie.

Are you sure it wasn’t lack of air conditioning. Because I feel like it was probably lack of air conditioning.

— Stacey (@ScotsFyre) October 23, 2026

@ABC You’d think that they could keep cool with that air of moral superiority they had while thinking that they were better than the stupid Americans and their AC. Human caused climate change is a grift. Climate naturally changes, humans adjust.

— Bleu Cheque (@VERBAL_CHANCLA) October 24, 2026

@ABC Study this ratio.

— Anthony Bialy (@AnthonyBialy) October 24, 2026

@ABC What if I told you that we have solved heat-related deaths but the Europeans refuse to let their people install this cure?

— Peachy Keenan (@KeenanPeachy) October 23, 2026

@ABC Good thing they have free health care, but they might want to try out that new fangled contraption called air conditioning.

— Richard Belcher (@R_A_Belcher) October 23, 2026

@ABC "Human-caused climate change" didn't kill them - refusal to use human-made air conditioning did.

— Cicero's second cousin (@AndrewHath5) October 23, 2026

@ABC You do know they don’t have air conditioning because of “climate change?” Try just a little…to be journalists

— Sean Lackey (@SeanLackey2) October 23, 2026

@ABC AIR-CONDITIONING. The lack of AC is what kills so many people. More people die from this in Europe, then car deaths in the United States per year. It's pathetic.

— Joe_Hoegan (@sleepin_volk) October 23, 2026

@ABC Did you mean "human-caused failure to install a cooling device invented over a century ago."

— John Kartch (@johnkartch) October 23, 2026

@ABC Perhaps they should consider air conditioning. It didn't have to be that way.

— Karl Dickey (@KarlDickeyFL) October 23, 2026

@ABC The cause is governmental refusal to embrace AC. They are murdering their elderly.

— RecursiveReferences (@Recursivelies) October 23, 2026

@ABC Wouldn't it be *lack* of climate change via air conditioning that killed them?

— H. B. (@theaichbee) October 24, 2026

@ABC What an absurd headline. The best available research shows that human activity does not have a measurable impact on changes in climate. The death toll was caused by a lack of air conditioning.

— Chris McKeever 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@TheRealMcKeever) October 24, 2026

@ABC Funny what a little air conditioning could do for people. 🤷‍♂️ Yeah, might actually want to change the climate in the building. 🤦‍♂️

— IroncladOak (@IroncladOak) October 23, 2026

@ABC I’ve never been more grateful to live in America, where I have air conditioning and can set it to whatever temperature I want.

— Kathleen (@Calibamawife) October 23, 2026

@ABC If by "human caused" you mean humans shutting down nuclear plants and humans banning air conditioning then, yeah. I suppose.

— Wisconsinite (@2_the_Republic) October 24, 2026

@ABC Why doesn’t this happen in hot parts of the world? I lived in Florida for years and never once heard of someone dying from the heat

— Ghostwatch (@SamAristarchus) October 24, 2026

@ABC Many of those people died because of the EU’s idiotic policies.

— DEFENDERS OF ISRAEL (@Israeli_Sniper) October 23, 2026

@ABC Ha. What study? Who by? Would love to see their thesis on how they assigned death to “climate change.”

— THE GOLDEN RULE (@thegoldnrule) October 23, 2026

@ABC Weird. We had average days of 105 here last summer and I didn’t die. Must be the gods!

— WONDERBRAH (@HanYoloNFT) October 24, 2026

@ABC This is Europe's idea of population control. Canada can't do it, that's why they created MAID. They don't care about the deaths. It's a feature.

— Sonza the Gnome (@Sonza_the_Gnome) October 23, 2026

@ABC Given nobody knows how much humans have actually changed global temperatures, it's farcical to blame 2/3rds on climate change. They're literally just making things up.

— John Taznar (@Taznari) October 24, 2026

That's what the news story said — "modeling."

Europeans will continue to shun air conditioning because AC units use freon, which contributes to climate change. Gotta remember that hole in the ozone layer that's going to kill all of us.

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