Guillaume Souvant | Afp | Getty Images Europe’s rivers are drying up after a prolonged spell of extremely hot weather, heightening fears over food and energy production at a time when prices are already soaring due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A severe lack of rainfall and a sequence of heat waves since May has visibly affected the region’s waterways. In France, it has become possible to cross the Loire River on foot in some places. Water levels at a key German chokepoint on the Rhine River, one of Europe’s main waterways, could once again be closed to commercial traffic, it is feared. and the waters of Italy’s drought-stricken Pa River have revealed artefacts dating back to World War II – including a 50m long barge and a bomb that had sunk in the past. “We haven’t seen this level of drought for a long time. Water levels in some of the major waterways are lower than they have been in decades,” said Matthew Oxenford, senior analyst for Europe and climate policy. at The Economist Intelligence Unit. , a research and consulting firm, told CNBC by phone. Wreckage of a German World War II warship is seen on the Danube in Prahovo, Serbia, August 18, 2022. Fedja Grulovic | Reuters “For some of the main channels, there is very little margin, sometimes less than 30 centimeters of margin before the channel is completely inoperable for any kind of shipping,” he added. “So this is going to have very significant impacts on the economic and human activity that takes place around these waterways, as we are likely to remain in some form of drought for quite some time to come.”
Worst drought in 500 years
Europe is in the grip of the region’s most likely drought in at least 500 years, according to a preliminary analysis by the European Union’s Joint Research Centre. As of early August, the Global Drought Monitor’s report said about two-thirds of Europe was under some kind of drought warning, meaning the soil has dried out and vegetation is “showing signs of stress.” The analysis found that almost all of Europe’s rivers have dried up to some extent, while water and heat stress “significantly reduced” summer crop yields. Forecasts for corn, soybeans and sunflowers were expected to be 16%, 15% and 12% lower than the previous five-year average, respectively. This comes as food prices remain stubbornly high amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine, a major producer of commodities such as wheat, corn and sunflower oil. If you grow up in central Europe, people usually like the sun — but now we’re hoping for rain. Axel Bronstert Professor of Hydrology and Climatology at the University of Potsdam The EU report warned that the Western Europe-Mediterranean region is likely to see warmer and drier than usual conditions through November. Certainly, the deepening climate emergency has made high temperatures and droughts more intense and widespread. And cooler nighttime temperatures that usually provide critical relief from hot days are disappearing as the planet warms. “The problem is the severity of this particular drought,” Axel Bronstert, a professor of hydrology and climatology at the University of Potsdam in Germany, told CNBC by phone. “If you grow up in central Europe, people usually like the sun — but now we’re hoping for rain,” Bronstert said, noting that he hadn’t previously heard of some smaller rivers in the region drying up completely this time of year. . “Without really heavy rainfall in the coming weeks, the potential for further water levels to drop is high,” he added. Alongside the drought’s ecological and health impacts, Bronstert said the drought conditions had resulted in a “very poor” harvest for many different crops in Germany. In Italy’s Po Valley, home to about 30% of the country’s agricultural output, scorching heat and extremely dry conditions have hurt corn and sunflower production. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Rising food and energy prices fueled a sharp rise in inflation, with consumer prices in the 19 countries that use the euro hitting a new record high of 9.1% in August. “I think the biggest point I want to make is that anomalies like this are in a sense going to become more frequent in the coming years because of climate change,” EIU’s Oxenford said, citing the potential for more intense droughts, storms. heatwaves and floods in Europe. “So I think the solution to dealing with the economic impact of all of this is that countries will need to invest more in preparing for things that were very unusual – but will now become much more common as climate change disrupts many patterns of activity that have created for centuries”.
Struggle to secure energy supply
Oxenford said the economic impact of Europe’s evaporating waterways was likely to be “multifaceted”, highlighting the prospect of disruption to shipping along the Rhine River as one of the major risks. The Rhine River, approximately 1,320 kilometers long, is one of the largest and most important rivers in Europe. It connects the main port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands through the industrial heartland of Germany and further south to landlocked Switzerland. Water levels in Germany’s Rhine River have stabilized above crisis levels in recent weeks. But forecasts of a prolonged period of high temperatures and scant rainfall have fueled fears that the transport of everything from food to chemicals to energy could soon grind to a halt. The water level at Kaub – a gauging station west of Frankfurt and a key chokepoint for sea freight – is forecast to drop to 86 centimeters (about 34 inches) by the end of the week, according to German government data. The normal water level will be around 200 cm. In 2018, the water level of the Rhine dropped to just 30 cm in places, forcing ships to temporarily stop carrying cargo. An unloaded inland barge moves along the Rhine River at low tide in Duisburg, western Germany, on August 9, 2022. Ina Fassbender | Afp | Getty Images Andrew Kenningham, chief economist for Europe at consultancy Capital Economics, said in a research note that if the Rhine’s water levels continue to fall, it could shave 0.2 percentage points off Germany’s gross domestic product in the third and the fourth quarter of this year. However, Kenningham said falling Rhine water levels were a relatively minor issue for German industry compared to the deepening gas crisis in the region. Elsewhere, rising temperatures in France’s rivers in recent weeks have threatened to reduce the country’s already low nuclear output. Summer heatwaves have further warmed rivers such as the Rhone and Garonne, which state energy supplier EDF uses to cool its nuclear power plant reactors. France’s nuclear power regulator has since extended temporary exemptions to allow five power plants to continue discharging hot water into rivers in the face of a looming energy crisis, Reuters reported. And, in Norway, a northern European country that relies heavily on hydropower, a lack of rain means the amount of electricity generated by dams has plummeted. As a result, the Norwegian government announced in early August that it plans to limit electricity exports. European governments are scrambling to fill underground storage facilities with natural gas supplies in order to have enough fuel to keep homes warm in the coming months. Russia — which supplied around 40% of the EU’s natural gas last year — has sharply cut flows to Europe in recent weeks, citing faulty and delayed equipment. — CNBC’s Emma Newburger contributed to this report.
title: “Europe S Evaporating Rivers Are Destroying Food And Energy Production Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-02” author: “Michelle Hatfield”
Guillaume Souvant | Afp | Getty Images Europe’s rivers are drying up after a prolonged spell of extremely hot weather, heightening fears over food and energy production at a time when prices are already soaring due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A severe lack of rainfall and a sequence of heat waves since May has visibly affected the region’s waterways. In France, it has become possible to cross the Loire River on foot in some places. Water levels at a key German chokepoint on the Rhine River, one of Europe’s main waterways, could once again be closed to commercial traffic, it is feared. and the waters of Italy’s drought-stricken Pa River have revealed artefacts dating back to World War II – including a 50m long barge and a bomb that had sunk in the past. “We haven’t seen this level of drought for a long time. Water levels in some of the major waterways are lower than they have been in decades,” said Matthew Oxenford, senior analyst for Europe and climate policy. at The Economist Intelligence Unit. , a research and consulting firm, told CNBC by phone. Wreckage of a German World War II warship is seen on the Danube in Prahovo, Serbia, August 18, 2022. Fedja Grulovic | Reuters “For some of the main channels, there is very little margin, sometimes less than 30 centimeters of margin before the channel is completely inoperable for any kind of shipping,” he added. “So this is going to have very significant impacts on the economic and human activity that takes place around these waterways, as we are likely to remain in some form of drought for quite some time to come.”
Worst drought in 500 years
Europe is in the grip of the region’s most likely drought in at least 500 years, according to a preliminary analysis by the European Union’s Joint Research Centre. As of early August, the Global Drought Monitor’s report said about two-thirds of Europe was under some kind of drought warning, meaning the soil has dried out and vegetation is “showing signs of stress.” The analysis found that almost all of Europe’s rivers have dried up to some extent, while water and heat stress “significantly reduced” summer crop yields. Forecasts for corn, soybeans and sunflowers were expected to be 16%, 15% and 12% lower than the previous five-year average, respectively. This comes as food prices remain stubbornly high amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine, a major producer of commodities such as wheat, corn and sunflower oil. If you grow up in central Europe, people usually like the sun — but now we’re hoping for rain. Axel Bronstert Professor of Hydrology and Climatology at the University of Potsdam The EU report warned that the Western Europe-Mediterranean region is likely to see warmer and drier than usual conditions through November. Certainly, the deepening climate emergency has made high temperatures and droughts more intense and widespread. And cooler nighttime temperatures that usually provide critical relief from hot days are disappearing as the planet warms. “The problem is the severity of this particular drought,” Axel Bronstert, a professor of hydrology and climatology at the University of Potsdam in Germany, told CNBC by phone. “If you grow up in central Europe, people usually like the sun — but now we’re hoping for rain,” Bronstert said, noting that he hadn’t previously heard of some smaller rivers in the region drying up completely this time of year. . “Without really heavy rainfall in the coming weeks, the potential for further water levels to drop is high,” he added. Alongside the drought’s ecological and health impacts, Bronstert said the drought conditions had resulted in a “very poor” harvest for many different crops in Germany. In Italy’s Po Valley, home to about 30% of the country’s agricultural output, scorching heat and extremely dry conditions have hurt corn and sunflower production. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Rising food and energy prices fueled a sharp rise in inflation, with consumer prices in the 19 countries that use the euro hitting a new record high of 9.1% in August. “I think the biggest point I want to make is that anomalies like this are in a sense going to become more frequent in the coming years because of climate change,” EIU’s Oxenford said, citing the potential for more intense droughts, storms. heatwaves and floods in Europe. “So I think the solution to dealing with the economic impact of all of this is that countries will need to invest more in preparing for things that were very unusual – but will now become much more common as climate change disrupts many patterns of activity that have created for centuries”.
Struggle to secure energy supply
Oxenford said the economic impact of Europe’s evaporating waterways was likely to be “multifaceted”, highlighting the prospect of disruption to shipping along the Rhine River as one of the major risks. The Rhine River, approximately 1,320 kilometers long, is one of the largest and most important rivers in Europe. It connects the main port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands through the industrial heartland of Germany and further south to landlocked Switzerland. Water levels in Germany’s Rhine River have stabilized above crisis levels in recent weeks. But forecasts of a prolonged period of high temperatures and scant rainfall have fueled fears that the transport of everything from food to chemicals to energy could soon grind to a halt. The water level at Kaub – a gauging station west of Frankfurt and a key chokepoint for sea freight – is forecast to drop to 86 centimeters (about 34 inches) by the end of the week, according to German government data. The normal water level will be around 200 cm. In 2018, the water level of the Rhine dropped to just 30 cm in places, forcing ships to temporarily stop carrying cargo. An unloaded inland barge moves along the Rhine River at low tide in Duisburg, western Germany, on August 9, 2022. Ina Fassbender | Afp | Getty Images Andrew Kenningham, chief economist for Europe at consultancy Capital Economics, said in a research note that if the Rhine’s water levels continue to fall, it could shave 0.2 percentage points off Germany’s gross domestic product in the third and the fourth quarter of this year. However, Kenningham said falling Rhine water levels were a relatively minor issue for German industry compared to the deepening gas crisis in the region. Elsewhere, rising temperatures in France’s rivers in recent weeks have threatened to reduce the country’s already low nuclear output. Summer heatwaves have further warmed rivers such as the Rhone and Garonne, which state energy supplier EDF uses to cool its nuclear power plant reactors. France’s nuclear power regulator has since extended temporary exemptions to allow five power plants to continue discharging hot water into rivers in the face of a looming energy crisis, Reuters reported. And, in Norway, a northern European country that relies heavily on hydropower, a lack of rain means the amount of electricity generated by dams has plummeted. As a result, the Norwegian government announced in early August that it plans to limit electricity exports. European governments are scrambling to fill underground storage facilities with natural gas supplies in order to have enough fuel to keep homes warm in the coming months. Russia — which supplied around 40% of the EU’s natural gas last year — has sharply cut flows to Europe in recent weeks, citing faulty and delayed equipment. — CNBC’s Emma Newburger contributed to this report.
