Heat waves weigh on productivity, agriculture and health. For France, the loss is estimated at 9 billion euros per year, according to a study by Allianz Trad.
While 38 departments are still placed on a heat wave by Météo France on Sunday, August 17, the country is on maximum alert. If these very strong, more frequent and more intense episodes weigh both on the environment and the well-being and health of the French, their consequences are as heavy on the tricolor economy. “As a comparison, an extreme heat day, greater than 32 ° C, is equivalent to half a day of strike,” said Allianz Trade in a study published on July 1. The Insurer’s subsidiary figures the loss to 0.3 points of GDP for France (or nearly 9 billion euros) and 0.5 points for Europe.
What are the affected sectors?
The construction, agriculture, energy or tourism sectors are particularly affected. “In 2022, the non -irrigated corn yield decreased by 13%, with very strong regional disparities,” quotes Sandrine Mathy, research director at the CNRS interviewed by 20 minutes.
Heat waves also push some nuclear power plants to close, the rivers being too hot. If harvests are threatened in certain orchards, in stores, customers are also less numerous, as explained by a baker in a report in a recent report broadcast on France 2.
The health cost is just as high: it is estimated between 22 and 37 billion euros in mainland France between 2015 and 2020, according to researchers Lucie Adélaïde, Mathilde Pascal and Olivier Chanel. “The use of care, that is to say, the emergency room passages and hospitalizations related to heat, premature additional mortality and the loss of well-being linked to the restriction of activities,” said the latter at 20 minutes.
Posted on August 17 at 4:45 p.m., Marion Gauvain, 6medias