Heatwaves claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people in Europe’s capital cities this summer, as they experienced record temperatures.

In London, emergency wards filled with elderly patients injured after fainting in the heat. Meanwhile, the dry weather created subsidence and left homes with cracks.

In Paris temperatures exceeded 40°C in late June and people struggled to carry on their lives, and in Madrid, heatwaves burned thousands of hectares on the outskirts of the city.

Read more: Can the searing European summer put climate action back on the agenda – or will disaster response take over?

Thami carried out preliminary research on the results of extreme heat on European cities this summer. It looked into how many buildings have adequate shade from trees. The results were striking.

In London, Paris and Madrid over 90% of buildings did not have enough shade around them to prevent urban heat island effects. These were among the worst results in cities we studied, but even the best performers had a majority of residents without adequate heat protection – cities like Hamburg (56% unprotected) and Barcelona (70% unprotected).

This builds on past research that shows how major cities around the world – including in Europe – tend to struggle to reach useful levels of tree canopies to create shade close to homes and workplaces. It suggests that that homes should have a view of three trees and be within a 300 m walk of a park.

Early results for my research suggests that huge portions of European cities are........

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