Summer of heat and drought cost German economy €36bn, says Greenpeace

Extreme heat and weeks of drought have cost the German economy at least €36 billion, equivalent to 0.8% to 0.9% of the country's economic output, the environmental organization Greenpeace said on Monday.

The figure was calculated by adding up economic damage from crop failures, wildfires and health costs, as well as productivity losses and education costs caused by the heat.

"This summer of heat and drought was a catastrophe for millions of people and for the economy," said Greenpeace financial expert Mauricio Vargas. "Even though this natural disaster has not left piles of rubble, the scale of the damage is shocking."

Vargas called on the German government to respond to the climate crisis "with the seriousness it demands" at its upcoming Cabinet retreat. "The figures are unambiguous: we simply can no longer afford to carry on as before," he said.

Germany has not been spared the effects of Europe's record-breaking summer. The country's all-time temperature record was broken on three consecutive days in June, reaching a peak of 41.7 degrees Celsius in the eastern state of Brandenburg, while several major forest fires have broken out in recent weeks.

Greenpeace said dozens of millions of working hours have been lost due to heat, while weeks of drought are expected to result in significantly lower harvests in some parts of the country.

Inland shipping had to be suspended in some stretches due to extreme low water levels on major rivers such as the Rhine. Industries reliant on large quantities of raw materials and intermediate products were particularly affected - including chemicals, steel and mineral oil.

Greenpeace stressed that the calculations were an estimate. The organization said it worked "with certain imprecisions in quantification due to incomplete information," but insisted it was important to produce a plausible estimate of the economic damage from the high temperatures.

"Failing to account for damage due to incomplete data would lead to far greater gaps in understanding and would massively underestimate the scale of the natural disaster," the group said.

Productivity losses were identified as the largest single item of damage. "With an estimated 25 heat days, heat-related productivity losses and failures add up to €10.8 billion," the study said.

Forest damage followed, at an estimated €5 billion to €7.5 billion, while health-related losses came to €6.9 billion. Agriculture, inland shipping and education were also significantly affected, the organization said.

Greenpeace stressed that some serious consequences could not yet be calculated at all, including effects on the energy system from a lack of cooling water and from heat-induced increases in ozone and fine particulate pollution.

"The true costs of extreme weather events like this summer's heatwave are far above our calculations," Vargas said. "Investments in ambitious climate protection measures shrink to a laughable level by comparison."