EXTREME HEAT AFFECTS EUROPEAN ECONOMY

EXTREME HEAT AFFECTS EUROPEAN ECONOMY

According to Reuters reports, in the recent period of time, the high temperature weather in European countries continued. Multinational meteorological departments have issued high temperature warnings and forecast the maximum temperature will exceed 40 degrees Celsius. At the same time, the high temperature weather also has an impact on the transportation and economic development of various countries.

According to the British Sky News Channel on the 18th, citing a source, the United Kingdom suffered an unprecedented heat wave this summer. The British Royal Air Force Blaise Norton Air Force Base stopped all flying missions that day due to the sunburned runway. This air base is located in Oxfordshire, northwest of the capital London, and houses 22 air force squadrons with 5,800 military personnel. It is the only air port of the British military and is responsible for the transportation of military personnel and equipment all year round.

London Luton Airport issued a statement on the 18th saying that due to the high temperature weather, a runway at the airport was "surface damaged", and all incoming and outgoing flights were temporarily cancelled after 15:00 on the same day. The airport has only one runway and is used by several airline operators, including easyJet, Ryanair. According to flight tracking website Flight Radar, several flights were diverted to multiple nearby airports.

Extreme weather in summer has caused water levels in Europe's most important river, the Rhine, to fall further, putting coal and oil deliveries at risk from Germany's coal-fired power plants and other industrial facilities. "The global climate crisis is intensifying," German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in announcing a study on the 18th. Extreme weather in recent years has cost Europe's largest economy more than 80 billion euros, the study showed.

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre released a report on July 18 saying that nearly half of the EU and the UK combined are at risk of drought. This is a dry riverbed taken on July 18 in Leibrenay, Switzerland. Xinhua News Agency/Faxin

Under the high temperature, the demand for electricity surges. Europe is already facing a natural gas supply crisis. The high temperature and drought have led to a decline in the power generation of renewable energy such as hydropower and wind energy, which has made Europe's energy problems even worse.

Hydropower generation in Spain is now at its second-lowest level in 20 years, France's is at its lowest in 10 years, and Portugal's hydropower output last month was only a quarter of what it was last June. Normally, hydro provides 14% of the electricity needed in the EU, behind gas, nuclear and wind.

In addition to directly affecting hydroelectric power generation, falling river water levels also affect the operation of nuclear power plants, which require a large amount of water to cool the units. Last month, EDF cut production at its St. Albans nuclear power plant and shut down more than a dozen reactors due to falling water levels on the Rhine. Last week, the company warned that five more nuclear plants were at risk of production cuts.

Crops such as corn have also been affected by extreme weather, with futures prices on the Paris market up 10 percent since the beginning of the month amid fears of food shortages caused by the crisis in Ukraine.