European Wildfires Top €3.1 Billion After Burning 500,000 Hectares

3 articles · Updated · Financial Times · Aug 3

€3.1 billion in restoration costs has already hit the five worst-affected eurozone countries after nearly 500,000 hectares burned in the first two months of the fire season.
That total already exceeds the European Commission’s €2.5 billion average annual wildfire impact for the entire EU, and it excludes much of the latest damage in Greece as well as losses to property, crops and tourism.
France’s Gironde shows the wider disruption: 40,000 businesses were directly affected, 19,500 were fully shut by July 30, and up to 150,000 workers were on subsidized short-time work.
Heat and drought are also straining infrastructure beyond the fires, with low Danube water levels forcing reactor shutdowns in Hungary and Romania and Rhine disruptions hitting German industry.
Economists say national GDP effects may stay limited, but the true toll is likely far higher because health costs, insurance impacts and destroyed capital are only partly captured.

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