2023-12-29 09:27:00
Hail insurance has taken stock for 2023 and reports a massive increase in damage in Austrian agriculture due to global warming. The total damage in the agricultural sector due to frost, hail, storms, floods and, above all, drought amounts to 250 million euros. Because damage amounting to 170 million euros alone can be attributed to extreme drought. In 2022, all damages totaled 170 million euros.
The year 2023, together with the year 2018, will go down as the warmest year in the 256-year history of measurements in Austria, said the special insurance company’s broadcast on Friday. “The consequences of global warming due to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations are fatal and particularly affect agriculture with its open-air workshops,” said CEO Kurt Weinberger. “The record-breaking temperatures will no longer be an exception in the future, but will become the norm if we do not get global warming under control. The consequences of climate change in the form of increasing natural disasters are leading to major ecological, economic and national economic damage. We therefore need to do so quickly a socio-political rethinking.”
The first half of the year was very challenging for local agriculture. An early start to vegetation due to a mild March was followed by a relatively cool April. The result of the drop in temperature at the beginning of April was severe frost damage to fruit crops amounting to 35 million euros, especially in Styria. Weeks of very heavy rainfall, especially in the east and south of Austria, led to severe flooding in both April and July. There was also hail and storm damage to agricultural crops. In total, these extreme weather events caused damage to agricultural crops amounting to 45 million euros.
However, the dominant theme in the summer months was the extreme drought, especially in the north and west of Austria. The seventh warmest summer in recorded history was followed by the hottest September and October since records began. In total, the lack of precipitation and a large number of days with temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius caused drought damage worth 170 million euros, including to maize crops and grassland. November was one of the five wettest Novembers in the history of measurements; in December, the storm was the dominant theme.
“If we do not reach the Paris target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, the damage caused by extreme weather events will continue to increase,” warns Weinberger. “Agricultural production in Austria is therefore also at massive risk. Consistent climate protection measures are therefore required globally, continentally and nationally.”
In addition to the need to expand renewable energies, Weinberger once again referred to his core issue – land consumption, which must finally be brought under control. This is “Austria’s biggest home-grown environmental problem.” “More than eleven hectares of fields and meadows are destroyed every day through development. This grossly negligent environmental destruction not only endangers the local food supply and the lives of people, animals and plants. Flood damage also increases massively because water cannot seep away during heavy rainfall .” Ultimately, soil protection through CO2 storage is also climate protection and “therefore vital for all of us,” said the hail insurance boss.
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