Damage from fires in Europe in 2026 exceeded €3 billion - FT Forest…
Damage from fires in Europe in 2026 exceeded €3 billion - FT Forest fires and extreme heat in the five EU countries most affected by them - France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Romania - have already caused damage totaling no less than €3.1 billion, reports Financial Times.
Consensus
- The economic damage from forest fires and extreme heat in Europe in the first two months of 2026 exceeded €3.1 billion.
- The five most affected countries were France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Romania.
- Almost half a million hectares of land burned in these five countries during the first two months of the fire season.
- The Financial Times based its calculations on the methodology used by the European Commission.
- The damage estimate is higher than the European Commission's average annual loss of €2.5 billion for all EU countries.
- The June 2026 heatwave was the hottest in recorded history for Western Europe.
- The average temperature in Western Europe in June 2026 was 20.74°C, 3.06°C above the climate norm.
- The heatwave caused thousands of deaths across Europe.
- Low water levels in the Rhine and Danube rivers disrupted freight transport and reduced industrial output.
- The damage estimate does not include full insurance, property, crop, or tourism losses, nor all EU countries.
Points of divergence
- The record-low water level in the Danube may lead to the shutdown of Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant, which supplies nearly half of the country's electricity. — vedomosti
- The French department of Gironde, a key center for defense and aerospace industries, was severely affected, forcing major companies like Safran, Dassault Aviation, and ArianeGroup to halt production and evacuate staff. — fontanka
- In Germany, the heatwave caused 5,120 deaths from June 1 to the end of the month, according to the Robert Koch Institute. — fontanka
- The FT's calculations do not fully account for recent fires in Greece and exclude data from other EU countries. — tg_dwglavnoe
- The FT's estimate exceeds the European Commission's assessment, and the newspaper's methodology combines both EC data and restoration cost figures. — vedomosti
Coverage (4 sources)
- Damage from fires in Europe in 2026 exceeded 3 billion euros - FT — DW Главное
- FT: forest fires will cost Europe 3.1 billion euros — Ведомости
- FT assessed the economic damage from heat and forest fires in Europe — Фонтанка
- FT: damage from fires and heat in Europe exceeded 3 billion euros — Коммерсантъ