BERLIN: Germany has recorded an estimated 5,120 heat-related deaths so far this year, most of them in late June when weekly average temperatures far exceeded 20 degrees Celsius, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for public health said on Thursday.
A majority of the deaths – around 4,270 – were among people aged 75 and older, the RKI said in a weekly report.
More women than men died, mainly because they make up a higher share of the very elderly.
The German data add to a grim picture across Europe. The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said in a bulletin on Thursday that Western Europe had experienced its hottest June on record with an average of 20.74 degrees.
National authorities have reported more than 4,700 excess deaths during the June 20-28 heatwave in France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
According to the RKI, the highest numbers of heat-related deaths in Germany in the past decade were recorded in 2018 and 2019, with 8,400 and 6,900 deaths, respectively.
Pressure mounts on government
During the heatwave weekend of June 27-28, 120 people died in the western German city of Cologne alone – four times as many as usual – said Katharina Droege, leader of the country’s Greens party, during a parliamentary debate.
Droege accused Chancellor Friedrich Merz of failing so far to comment on the heatwave, despite the rising death toll and ongoing efforts by emergency services, and she accused his government of watering down climate protection laws.
The Greens have sharply criticised the government’s draft budget for 2027, in particular for drawing billions from climate protection in order to plug budget gaps.
According to the budget draft, the cuts planned for the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) have not yet been concretely quantified.
Germany set out plans in March to help it meet 2030 climate targets and reduce its dependence on volatile fossil fuel imports, making eight billion euros available to fund measures such as expanding wind power capacity and boosting EV sales.
Europe’s biggest economy aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65% from 1990 levels by 2030 and to be climate-neutral by 2045. So far, however, the reduction is only about 48%, and experts say existing policies are insufficient.