Brussels, 20 October 2026 – Global warming is not an abstract future scenario: it is already having a measurable impact on human lives today. According to a new study by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 665 deaths during the Belgian heatwave of June would have been avoided without human-caused global warming. Owing to that warming, the heatwave was on average 3.9 degrees Celsius hotter.
The new VUB study estimates the number of heat-related deaths during the heatwave from 17 to 28 June at 1,181. Of these, an estimated 665 (56%) are attributable to human-caused global warming. The results make clear how strongly additional warming can increase the health risks of extreme heat. But how do these risks translate over an entire human lifetime? And which generations will bear the heaviest consequences?
From today's deadly heatwave to the life of tomorrow
These are the questions at the heart of LACRIMA, the ERC-funded research project of Wim Thiery. Climate risks are usually studied within defined time periods. As a result, it often remains insufficiently highlighted how exposure to extreme weather events accumulates over the course of a lifetime and how that impact differs between generations. With LACRIMA, Thiery brings together climate science, demography and planetary health to investigate that impact from a generational perspective. The project aims not only to map where and to what extent people will live lives unlike any seen before, but also how choices around climate mitigation can reduce the climate burden for young generations worldwide.