Study: Climate change doubled Germany's extreme heat days in one year

Germany experienced nearly twice as many days of extreme heat in the past year as it would have without climate change, according to a new analysis published on Friday.

The report was written by the World Weather Attribution initiative, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and the non-profit Climate Central.

The researchers define extreme heat days as those when temperatures exceeded 90% of recorded averages between 1991 and 2020. Between May 2024 and May 2025, Germany saw 50 such days — 24 of which were directly linked to human-induced climate change.

To determine the impact of global warming, scientists simulated a climate without human-made emissions and compared it to actual temperature data.

Climate change caused at least 30 extra extreme heat days for roughly 4 billion people — about half the world's population — during the same period. In 195 of 247 countries and regions studied, the number of extreme heat days at least doubled due to global warming.

The worst climate-driven heat event in Europe occurred in June 2024, when a heatwave swept from Greece through Romania and towards Asia and the Middle East.