Climate crisis

The cost of the drought: up to 74 billion euros and 960,000 jobs

However, there are still measures that can be taken to help turn the tide or find solutions. One of the strategies suggested by the experts involves the recovery and proper management of water resources

by Davide Madeddu

10 August 2026

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Immagini di Copernicus Sentinel-2, acquisite rispettivamente il 7 agosto 2016 e il 5 agosto 2026, mostrano il massiccio dell’Adamello a distanza di dieci anni l’una dall’altra. L’immagine a sinistra mostra un’ampia copertura glaciale continua, di un bianco brillante sotto la neve di fine estate. Al contrario, l’immagine a destra rivela una superficie più scura di ghiaccio nudo, costellato di detriti, nei toni del grigio chiaro, con il corpo del ghiacciaio completamente esposto. Tra le due acquisizioni, il fronte della lingua del Mandrone, lo sbocco principale del ghiacciaio, si è ritirato di circa 550 metri - NPK ANSA

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

On the one hand, there is the drought, and its impact, which could cost Italia 74 billion euros and 960,000 jobs. On the other hand, there is the opportunity arising from the recycling and, therefore, recovery of wastewater, which could lead to savings of up to 50 per cent. These are the pieces of a mosaic in which the effects of climate change are being felt and in which, above all, temperatures are rising.

74 billion and 960,000 jobs

A study carried out by researchers at the Euro-Mediterranean Centre Foundation on climate change (CMCC) and the Politecnico di Milano, which, for the first time, analyses the economic costs of a prolonged drought in Europe (the study is titled ‘Multi-Year Droughts and Their Compounding Economic Impacts in Europe’). The analysis points to extreme ‘vulnerability’ because the +2-degree threshold would plunge the system into crisis.

From agriculture to construction

The productive sectors are also having to contend with the drought. Starting with agriculture, which suffers the immediate impact. In this case, according to the study, recovery takes two or three years thanks to a series of measures ranging from insurance to a change in crops. But the construction and manufacturing sectors are also affected. Then there is another aspect, which concerns the risk of wildfires. In this case, a drier environment makes it easier for flames to spread, and the resulting damage incurs significant costs that persist over the years.

Changing course

However, all is not lost, and there are some measures that can help turn things round or find solutions. One of the strategies suggested by the experts involves water recovery and recycling.

“The summer of 2026 is confirming that the water crisis is no longer an occasional emergency, but a new structural reality with which we must learn to live – says Francesco Fatone, a lecturer at the Polytechnic University of the Marche and a member of Ecomondo’s Technical and Scientific Committee with responsibility for the entire Water sector. – The scarcity of this resource is certainly exacerbated by climate change and requires policies and measures with time horizons spanning several decades. A significant part of our vulnerability, however, also stems from the still inefficient and linear way in which we use and manage water’.

Managing availability

According to the expert, given the water consumption patterns characteristic of both the agricultural and industrial sectors, action is needed both to ensure the availability of the resource, ‘and to improve the efficiency of its use and the possibility of reusing it’.

‘In this context, the significance of reusing treated wastewater is also changing,’ he adds. “Wastewater treatment plants can evolve from infrastructure situated at the end of a linear process into links between cities and the surrounding countryside, capable of enhancing water resilience through better integration of urban, industrial, agricultural and environmental uses.”

More uses for the same water

Some figures: ‘In certain contexts, reclaimed water could replace around 10–30 per cent of the volumes currently drawn from conventional sources,’ he argues; ‘in specific industrial areas, it could meet between 50 per cent and almost the entirety of industrial demand. The same resource can also be allocated to different uses throughout the year, depending on seasonal demand, availability and the priorities set by the local area.”

So care must be taken with the planning and also with the costs of infrastructure solutions, which ‘must be weighed against the true value of water and that of the economic and social activities it makes possible’.

The time horizon needs to be extended

“In periods of abundant water supply, the return on investment may seem unsustainable,” he concludes; “during a drought, however, those same investments become fully commensurate with the value of the produce, the jobs and the local areas they help to protect. This is why it is essential to broaden the time horizon of planning and to incorporate the expected costs of climate change and inaction into economic and financial calculations.”