Rüchlig power plant on the Aare River, in Aarau, Switzerland. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue

Global Rundown

  • Because of drought in Syria’s growing regions, the country’s annual wheat production is projected to drop by three-fourths.
  • Extreme weather — primarily drought and heavy rainfall — costs the European Union nearly $32 billion in agricultural losses each year.
  • The French government and Nestlé are again being investigated for colluding to conceal the filtering and sterilization of Perrier’s “natural” water.
  • A record number of freshwater barriers — including dams and culverts — were removed across the European Union in 2024, according to a new report.

The Lead

Extreme weather — proven to be exacerbated by climate change — costs the European Union’s agricultural sector an average of 28.3 billion euros ($31.9 billion) per year, according to a new report produced by the insurance broker Howden and supported by the European Commission and European Investment Bank. 

Drought is the cause of more than half the total losses, which altogether “are expected to increase between 42 percent and 66 percent by 2050 without stronger action to address climate change,” Reuters reports. Excess rain had the second largest impact, accounting for 21 percent of damages and a loss of $3.2 billion. 

Variable weather is not experienced equally across the 27-country union. Spain and Italy, which have both been hit with devastating flooding in the past year, could lose $20 billion alone during a particularly “catastrophic” year of weather. Romania is projected to experience the greatest cumulative crop loss by mid-century, while “Belgium, France, and Spain are all also expected to see a significant growth in losses, on average, by over 50 percent.”

The $31.9 billion loss comprises 6 percent of the EU’s total agricultural and livestock production. Crucially, only 20 to 30 percent of these crops are insured. 

In context: Giant Storms, Growing Stronger, Inundate an Unprepared Planet

Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue

This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers

75

Percent of Syria’s wheat crop expected to fail this year amidst ongoing drought in the country’s northern fields, according to the United Nations. The losses, an estimated 2.7 million metric tons of grain, are enough to feed more than 16 million people annually. Reuters reports that a small reprieve — in the form of diplomacy, not rain — will soon come: recent decisions by the U.S. and European Union to lift sanctions on Syria should allow for the import of “technologies for irrigation and for infrastructure renewal,” which will help farmers cope with scarce water. 

542

The number of barriers removed from European Union waterways in 2024 — the most ever, according to Dam Removal Europe, a group composed of the World Wildlife Federation, The Rivers Trust, The Nature Conservancy, the European Rivers Network, Rewilding Europe, and Wetlands International. The previous benchmark was 487 in 2023.

Of the 27 member states, removals took place in 23 countries — another record — and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, and Turkey removed their first barriers. Finland led the union with 138 removed barriers.

On the Radar

An inquiry into the French government and bottled water company Perrier, which is owned by Nestlé, has indicated that the two entities collaborated to conceal the latter’s usage of UV sterilization techniques and filters during its water cleaning processes, the New York Times reports. The usage of such technology, according to French and European Union standards, means Perrier has illegally marketed its product as “natural mineral water.” 

Officials have ordered Perrier to remove its filters within two months while its “natural” label is deliberated. The company has argued that the technology is necessary to ensure its water, sourced from potentially polluted wells in southern France, is healthy enough to drink. 

Last fall, Nestlé was ordered to pay $2.25 million after the newspaper Le Monde launched a similar investigation into the company’s implementation of “banned water treatment techniques to deal with problems of contamination.”

Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region

Dairy State Sustainability: A new survey from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has found that a slight majority of the state’s farmers — 56 percent — “believe climate change is happening,” while 95 percent are practicing some degree of sustainable agriculture, Wisconsin Public Radio reports. Of 3,200 farmers contacted, 942 responded.

‘Polluter Pay’ in Michigan: In an effort to strengthen state environmental standards, Michigan lawmakers are reintroducing “polluter pay” legislation, which would “set more stringent cleanup standards, increase transparency, prevent sites from becoming ‘orphaned’ and make it easier for those harmed by pollution to seek justice,” according to a press release from Michigan Senate Democrats. The two bills — which will be reintroduced to the Senate and House in June — specifically target the state’s “tens of thousands” of toxic sites that have been left abandoned for generations, Inside Climate News reports. 

Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television, Michigan Public and The Narwhal work together to report on the most pressing threats to the Great Lakes region’s water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work here.

  • An $80M cleanup made Muskegon Lake trendy. Will ‘eco-gentrification’ follow? — Bridge Michigan
  • Keeping the $5.5 billion Great Lakes fishery afloat as Trump administration considers cuts — Michigan Public
  • Ontario budget weighs tariff threats, ignores climate threat — The Narwhal
  • I Speak for the Fish: Sturgeon vs salmon prioritizing native Great Lakes species — Great Lakes Now

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer from Chicago. He is passionate about climate and cultural phenomena that often appear slow or invisible, and he examines these themes in his journalism, poetry, and fiction.