With climate change, the availability of water can be reduced by 40 to 90%

Opposite phenomena but, at the same time, sides of the same cointhe recent flood that devastated Emilia-Romagna And the long periods of Drought which increasingly affect different areas of the country have made it even more evident how the issue of water is central in the new context determined by the climate crisis and underlined the need to act promptly to deal with the worsening of extreme events, now increasingly frequent and tangible, which concern not only the distant future but also the present. It was discussed this morning in Rome, during the 4th National Climate Conference promoted by Italy For Climate with the sponsorship of Ministry of Environment and Energy Securityfrom the European Commission and of Rai for Sustainabilityduring which experts, representatives of companies and institutions analyzed the impact of these events on the environment, the economy and people’s well-being, in the light of the data emerging from the Dossier Too much or too little? Water in Italy, in a changing climate, presented during the conference.

The main points of the dossier

Italy historically enjoys a good availability of water: it is still third in Europe for availability of water resources (behind only France and Sweden), with approx 130 billion m³ available every year. However, this value has decreased by 20% in recent decades: if we do not stop global warming, the main cause of the reduction of water, availability could be reduced by 40% in a short time, with peaks of 90% in some areas of the South. Regardless of the fact that we are the European country with the highest levels of water stress, we maintain record levels of water withdrawal in Europe: with almost 40 billion m³ per year Italy is first and withdraws more than 30% of the annual water availability: we are therefore affecting our water resources and endangering ecosystems. The water withdrawn in Italy is destined for 41% to agriculture, 24% to civil uses, 20% to industry and 15% to the production of electricity. We are the second European country for levies destined for agriculture (after Spain) but advanced accounting procedures for agricultural uses have not been activated and we are not improving our performance.

Italy also boasts the sad European record of water drawn for civil uses: with 9 billion m³ every year (and +70% compared to 2000). This is certainly due to the high level of losses in the national water network (which are constantly growing and have exceeded 40%), but also to a poor habit of reducing waste: an Italian consumes 220 liters of water, double the water consumed by an average European citizen. Italy is also the first European country for the use of water in industry: 4 times more than Germany and 8 times more than France.

Global warming

Globally, we have entered a phase of “permanent climate abnormality” which has already changed the water cycle by increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. The impact of the climate crisis and global warming is having devastating effects: in twenty years the Alpine glaciers in Italy have lost an average of 25 meters in thickness, over 50 billion m³ of ice. According to the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, if temperatures continue to rise none of the Friuli Venezia-Giulia ski resorts would soon have sufficient natural snow cover to guarantee the season and the same would happen to a third of the stations in Lombardy, Trentino-Alto Adige and Piedmont.

Climate changes

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The climate crisis, in addition to the damage caused by warming and the average increase in temperatures, also causes the increase the intensity and frequency of exceptional rainfall, like the recent one from Emilia Romagna: in Italy phenomena of an exceptional nature have increased exponentially in recent years, to the point of exceeding the record value of 2,000 episodes a year: one Italian out of five lives in potentially floodable areas, while 6.9 million people, 1.1 million businesses and 4.9 million buildings are threatened by medium-high water hazards. The regions at greatest risk of flooding in Italy are Emilia-Romagna, followed by Veneto and Calabria and by Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Tuscany and Lombardy. In almost all these regions the level of overbuilding of the territory is very high.

According to the analysis by Coldiretti and some recent estimates by Ismea, climate change has resulted in 2022 an economic damage to the agricultural sector of about 6 billion euros, with about 10% of the production value of the entire supply chain and it is estimated that the floods in Emilia Romagna have caused damages of around 8 billion Euros. According to Confagricoltura “in the areas affected by the flood, at least 50,000 jobs are at risk among farmers and employees in the countryside, in industries and in processing and transformation cooperatives”.

Furthermore, from 2000 to 2019, according to the latest studies by Ispra (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research)5 million hectares, 17% of the national surface, were subjected to various forms of degradationwith values ​​well over 20% in Sardinia, Emilia-Romagna, Campania and Abruzzo.

Longform

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“We have now entered a phase of permanent climatic abnormality – he has declared Andrea Barbabella, scientific director of Italy for Climate – which has already changed the water cycle, increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Italy, at the center of the climatic hot spot of the Mediterranean basin, is a country more at risk than others, with a temperature increase of almost 3 °C compared to the pre-industrial period, compared to a world average of +1, 1°C. We live in a particularly fragile territory, where 12 million people live in areas that could be subject to floods and we see exceptional rainfall events increase every year. As a community, we urgently need to understand the link between the climate crisis and the risks of an increasingly stressed water cycle, implementing extraordinary mitigation and adaptation measures“.

The 10 proposals of Italy for Climate

1. Update and make mitigation and adaptation measures more effective
2. Increase the climate commitment: cut net emissions by 58% in 2030 (compared to 1990) and achieve climate neutrality in 2045. To do this, among other things, we must push towards renewables and, among these, fully exploit the hydroelectric potential
3. To adopt a law for the climate
4. Improve the level of knowledge of water resources in Italy, with an updated picture of all sectors
5. Renew infrastructure and cut network losses, currently equal to 42% of the levy for civil use
6. To promote more efficient and circular use of water in agriculture
7. To promote the efficient and circular use of water in industries, facilitating investments
8. To verify updates to the flood risk management plans
9. Value nature-based solutions: it is necessary that there are areas or reservoirs of controlled floods and that the rivers can expand more in their natural courses
10. Value the role of cities: they can counteract waves and heat islands increasing green infrastructure; they can help reduce flood risks by reducing the sealing of urban areas and car parks

The Energy and Climate Plan

The change in the water cycle caused by global warming imposes the need to adapt to a new context. But at the same time it is necessary to act now with effective mitigation policies to curb warming, otherwise adaptation will no longer be possible. The priority is to reduce emissions and Italy is still not doing its part. During the morning’s work, the debate also focused on the measures contained in the executive summary of the PNIEC that Italy sent to Brussels in recent days, in light of the roadmap for climate neutrality proposed by Italy for Climate.

“To reduce the impact of floods and droughts it is necessary to help slow the global warming that fuels them, by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and to update and implement adaptation measures” – he explained Edo Ronchi, President of the Foundation for Sustainable Development – With Italy for Climate we have proposed a specific Roadmap for Italy, with challenging objectives and targets for 2030 and 2045 and specific sectoral strategies. A few days ago the government sent to Brussels an initial summary of the update of the integrated national energy and climate plan (PNEC): for Italy, a country vulnerable to climate change, it is more convenient to accelerate the commitment and focus on advanced objectives of decarbonisation, to also reap the technological, economic and employment advantages, rather than postponing the measures, concentrating them in a few future years even with higher costs. The new Pniec proposal sent to Brussels is not very ambitious: it aims for a cut of only 45% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (compared to a European average of 55%) in 40 years from 1990, leaving another 45% (for reach 90%) over the next 20 years; underestimates the growth potential of electric renewables, electricity penetration, energy efficiency of buildings and more electric mobility with fewer cars”.