Countries across Europe are bracing themselves for potentially lethally high temperatures this week. While there are no indications that an event as extreme as the 2003 heatwave, which killed 70,000 people, is likely, thermometers could rise to 45C in some places, and with it an increase in deaths.

The good news is that cooler conditions are forecast to move in over the weekend. The bad news is that until humanity’s fever with economic growth is broken, we should expect more extreme weather events in the future. Because if all the world’s major economies continue their obsession with growth, more fossil fuels will be burnt and with it more carbon dioxide will be added to the atmosphere, quickening the process of climate breakdown.

Exploring the link between particular weather events to human-caused climate change is challenging, but every ton of carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere further increases the greenhouse effect and so traps more heat. So while there have always been heatwaves, there is increasing confidence that climate change progressively loads the dice in their favour so they become more frequent. Analysis of the 2018 European heatwave, which produced temperatures over 33C in places such as in the far north of Finland, concluded that such freakish conditions were five times more likely as a consequence of climate change.

People literally dropping dead because of high temperatures is the most visible impact of climate change. But there are other more insidious effects. Climate change is gradually raising global sea levels. That won’t be noticed until a storm surge sweeps away a city. Increasing temperatures are melting glaciers around the world. That will only make headlines when the absence of meltwater during a particularly dry spell leaves millions without drinking water.

Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures Show all 30 1 /30 Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A zookeeper sprays water on Asian elephants at the Berlin Zoo on 25 June EPA Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures People cool off in a swimming pool in Hannover, Germany on 25 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A woman sits on a lawn chair in Lake Wanasee in Berlin on 25 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures An orangutan takes shelter from the sun under a blanket at the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienaa on 25 June AP Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures Visitors shelter from the heat under the Umbrella Sky Project, an art installation in Aix-en-Provence, France on 28 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A model boat drives past a couple as they bathe in a lake in Ertingen, Germany on 26 June AP Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A personal care worker visits the home of an elderly person to help him avoid heatstroke and dehydration during the heatwave in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The heat watch system has been implemented in France, meaning that vulnerable people will have increased access to aid for heat-related ailments AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A zookeeper applies sun cream to a tapir at the Serengeti Park in Hanover, Germany on 26 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures One motorist in Brandenburg, Germany was stopped by police on account of his tactic for keeping cool on 25 June Brandenburg Police Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A German Police helicopter pours water over a forest fire near Lieberoser Heide in Germany on 25 June Reuters Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures Children jump into the water of Lake Geneva to cool off in Lutry, Switzerland on 25 June AP Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures Parisians cool off in the fountains at the Trocadero Esplanade on 24 June AP Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A polar bear cools off in the Gelsenkirchen zoo in western Germany on 25 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A woman plays in the in the fountains at the Trocadero Esplanade on 24 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures Children play in Lake Walensee in Switzerland on the evening of 25 June EPA Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A refreshments table of water and syrups is laid out at an old folks home in Le Bouscat, France. Due to the heat, extra care provisions are available for the vulnerable in France Reuters Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A meerkat reaches for frozen food at the Berlin Zoo on 25 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures People ride down the Old Danube in Vienna on 25 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A boy plunges into a swimming pool in Essen, Germany on 25 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A pigeon drinks from a fountain in Mulhouse, France on 25 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures Parisians rest in the shade down by the Seine on 26 June AP Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A boy jumps into the canal near Reims in northeastern France on 25 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures People bathe at Amager in Copenhagen, Denmark on 25 June EPA Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A walrus feeds on an ice cake filled with frozen fish as her baby looks on i Hamburg Zoo, Germany on 26 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures Children play in a fountain in Nice, France on 26 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A couple steers an electric boat down the Old Danube in Vienna on 25 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A polar bear cools off at the Hamburg Zoo in Germany AP Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures A woman cools of in a water fountain on 26 June AFP/Getty Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures People lounge on the shore of the Baths of Paquis in Genevs on 25 June EPA Europe seeks relief in scorching Saharan heatwave: In pictures People enjoy the weather in Lake Walensee in Switzerland on 25 June EPA

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s job is to review the increasing amount of research into the impact of climate change. Its latest report summary can be found here. Put very simply, higher temperatures will produce more dangerous impacts. So why do we continue to burn coal, oil, and gas in huge quantities? Are our elected politicians and industrialists insane? Hopelessly corrupt?

The more charitable answer is that they are simply deluded because they choose to believe that we can outrun the worst of these impacts. In their defence, there is some evidence to support this conclusion.

Since May this year, India has been suffering a heatwave that has produced temperatures over 50C in some regions. While dozens have died, the good news is that many lives have been saved by adaptation in the form of better public information campaigns such as those warning against working or even going outside during hottest periods, the increased distribution of water, and the painting of roofs with white paint. European countries have learnt important lessons from the 2003 tragedy and are closing schools, banning some cars from city centres and handing out tens of thousands of bottles of water.

So it’s clearly the case that better management and adaptation to higher temperatures can have a dramatic impact. A notable example is the decrease in heat-related deaths in the USA over the 20th Century. The reasons for that include an increase in the use of air conditioning as it provided cooled spaces in which heat-stressed people can recover.

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But what allowed the widespread use of air conditioning in the USA in the last century was the burning of fossil fuels that powered its huge economy and increases in wealth. Deploying more air conditioning in response to rising temperatures as a consequence of climate change will increase humanity’s energy demand. Demand that in India and other places will be satisfied by burning more coal. As well as increasing deaths from air pollution, it will produce more carbon emissions and so more climate heating.

This all makes as much sense as thinking that the way to avoid crashing into a mountain top in a hot air balloon, would be to set fire to the basket in order to increase the temperature inside.

Humans have warmed the Earth’s climate over 1C since we first started to use coal to power our economies. We will need to adapt to the changes we have made to the earth system. If we focus on the welfare of the most vulnerable, then at least for the next few decades, many lives can be saved.

But to believe that economic growth will solve all of humanity’s problems, including those produced by economic growth, will only lead to even more extreme weather that would on our current trajectory leave significant regions of the earth uninhabitable.

Rather than continue to subsidise fossil fuel companies with billions of dollars each year in order to protect economic growth, we should be using our abundant resources to both rapidly decarbonise and reduce vulnerabilities to the environmental change that’s already locked in.