Water levels on Europe’s main rivers haven’t been this low for decades – Xclusiv Shipbrokers
Italy's the Po is at its lowest level in 70 years with Spain and Portugal experiencing their driest conditions
Spain and Portugal are experiencing their driest conditions in more than a millennium. Italy's longest river, the Po, is at its lowest level in 70 years and parts of the Rhine River – a key conduit for shipping commodities including coal and oil – haven't been this low for at least 15 years. Droughts may affect electricity production beyond hydropower since German coal-fired power stations ship their fuel via waterways such as the Rhine River, Xclusiv Shipbrokers Weekly said in its market commentary.
In Texas, which also suffers from blazing heatwaves, the Electric Reliability Council asked businesses and households to conserve power to avoid blackouts, highlighting that a combination of record high demand, higher than expected gas and coal plant outages, and low wind and solar generation threatened to compromise power supply.
Although these extreme weather conditions are a grim reminder of the threats of delaying climate action, European governments plan to burn more coal, build new LNG terminals and expand gas pipelines to boost energy stockpiles. For instance, Germany, Austria, France, and the Netherlands have announced plans to increase coal power generation due to Russian gas supplies being halted. However, according to energy think tank Ember, those plans would only add 1.3% to EU emissions annually even if run hard. On the other hand, it is worth mentioning that the EU has decreased its imports of Russian coal significantly before a full ban next month, as western powers intensify their sanctions against Russia. Within June, a total of 1.7 million tonnes of Russian coal was shipped by sea to the EU, 48% down compared to May, which is the greatest monthly drop since at least 2019, according to commodity consultants CRU. On 13th July, the Newcastle coal futures soared to around USD 430 / tonne, hitting their all-time highs, before easing to USD 410 / tonne.
