Urban Heat

Abstract

In the past two decades, the urban heat island has emerged as one of the major health implications of the climate crisis. It began with the European heatwave that occurred in the summer of 2003, serving as a massive wake-up call. This event resulted in an estimated 30,000 to 80,000 deaths throughout Europe, disproportionately impacting the Paris metropolitan area. Subsequent heat events occurred in Western Europe in 2006 and Eastern Europe in 2010. Russian authorities reported 55,000 deaths above the usual mortality in 2010 due to the heat and smog generated by forest fires that year.

In response to the loming climate crisis, meteorological institutes began developing long-term scenarios. During the 20th United Nations Conference on Climate Change, the World Meteorological Organization asked weather presenters from each country to prepare a bulletin for the month of August 2050. TF1 presenter Évelyne Dhéliat, representing France, was assigned to create a report for August 18, 2050, based on a temperature map provided by Météo France. In a later interview, she recalled calling Météo France, exclaiming, "Wait, you've marked it at 40°. Are you aware? It's impossible; it's madness."

Subsequently, the summers of 2018 and 2019 shattered temperature records across Europe, with soaring temperatures surpassing 40 degrees Celsius for the first time in countries that had never experienced such extremes. In France, the warning for 2050 had already become a reality, only five years after the 2014 when the scenario was presented at the world stage. 

The use of smart thermostats provides the opportunity to measure heat within the homes of citizens as demonstrated in the case of the Dutch city of The Hague.