A recent study published in Geophysical Research Letters on September 22 shows that emissions from the past decade have made Europe's recent heat waves significantly worse. The research found strong evidence that if the intense heat wave that struck Europe in the summer of 2025 had occurred without the emissions from 2015 onward, it likely would have been cooler. This pattern is not unique to 2025; the study found that emissions since 2015 have likely made every year's hottest week in Europe since 2021 more extreme. Scientists have long studied how human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution, have influenced global temperatures and weather patterns. In recent years, researchers have developed methods to assess how historical emissions have affected extreme weather events, such as heat waves and hurricanes. This new study builds on that research by using generative artificial intelligence (AI) trained on climate models to determine whether specific subsets of human-caused emissions have influenced recent extreme weather events. The findings suggest that even if global emissions are reduced in the future, extreme weather is likely to continue increasing in severity. The study highlights the urgency of preparing for more intense weather events, even if global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are successful. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nearly 200 countries pledged to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, with a goal of keeping it below 1.5°C. However, global temperatures are already approaching the 1.5°C threshold. Stabilizing the climate will require achieving "net-zero" emissions, where the amount of greenhouse gases released is balanced by natural or technological absorption. Even with optimistic emission reduction timelines, future emissions are expected to surpass those of the past decade since the Paris Agreement. The study found that more than 99% of the likelihood that the deadly June 2025 heat wave in Europe was intensified by emissions from the past decade. Researchers estimated that these emissions increased average daily temperatures in some regions by about 0.3°C, or just over half a degree Fahrenheit. While this temperature change may seem small, previous research has shown that even minor temperature increases can significantly worsen the impact of extreme weather events, such as increasing the risk of heat-related deaths and affecting electricity demand, agriculture, and labor productivity. The findings come amid thousands of lawsuits against oil companies and fossil fuel producers seeking accountability for damages caused by extreme weather linked to climate change.