On one side drought, and its cost that could amount to 74 billion euros and 960,000 jobs for Italy. On the other, the opportunity arising from recycling and thus recovering wastewater that could lead to a 50% saving. These are pieces of a mosaic in which the effects of climate change are felt and in which temperatures are, above all, rising.
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74 billion and 960,000 jobs
Explaining that drought, in a scenario like the current one with a 2-degree increase, could cost 74 billion euros and 960,000 jobs, is the study conducted by researchers from the Euro-Mediterranean Center Foundation on climate change (Cmcc) and the Polytechnic University of Milan, which for the first time analyzes the economic costs of prolonged drought in Europe (‘Multi-Year Droughts and Their Compounding Economic Impacts in Europe’ is the title of the study). The analysis indicates extreme «vulnerability» because the +2 degrees threshold would put the system in crisis.
From agriculture to construction
Productive sectors also face the drought challenge. Starting with agriculture, which suffers the immediate trauma. In this case, recovery, according to the study, takes two or three years thanks to a series of interventions ranging from insurance to crop changes. But there are also construction and manufacturing. And then another aspect, concerning the fire hazard. In this case, with a drier environment, the spread of flames is easier, whose effects have significant costs that extend over the years.
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Reversing the course
Not everything is lost, however, and there are some interventions to help reverse the course or find solutions. One of the strategies indicated by experts involves water recovery and recycling.
«The summer of 2026 is confirming that the water crisis is no longer an episodic emergency, but a new structural condition we must learn to live with – says Francesco Fatone, professor at the Polytechnic University of Marche and member of the Technical-Scientific Committee of Ecomondo with responsibility for the entire Water area -. The scarcity of the resource is certainly aggravated by climate change and requires policies and interventions with time horizons of several decades. A significant part of our vulnerability also depends on the still inefficient and linear way we use and manage water».
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