Please share your views! This work – and a safe and just world – belongs to us all
13/08/2026
Dear Planetary Steward,
This month’s edition lands amid one of the most severe droughts Europe has faced in decades. Rivers including the Rhine and Danube have fallen to unprecedented lows, with nuclear plants forced to scale back including in Hungary where the Danube was too warm to safely cool its reactors. Scientists estimate the soil-moisture deficits are roughly eleven times more likely because of human-driven climate change, a reminder that drought is no longer a seasonal inconvenience but a structural stress on how we manage our global commons.
Europe’s crisis sits within a wider picture. East Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia have faced repeated, compounding droughts since 2021, deepening humanitarian need even as attention concentrates on wealthier regions. Against this backdrop, the water demands of data centers are fast growing. Global data center water consumption in 2025 was around 1.8 million Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth – enough for over 600 million people’s annual basic domestic water needs in Sub-Saharan Africa – and this could rise to 9.3 trillion liters a year by 2030. While cattle farming and power generation still use far more water than server farms in most drought-hit regions, the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure puts further pressure on our out-of-balance Earth systems.
Drought and heat impact human health beyond water. The Planetary Health Alliance has just released the European Declaration on Heat and Health, calling on EU authorities for “a radical change in ambition and resources” to prevent heat-related deaths. Campaigns like this matter more than ever: as extreme heat becomes routine, several governments are quietly regressing on their climate commitments, and sustained public pressure is one of the few levers keeping heat and water resilience on the political agenda.
Europe’s economy is also feeling the strain of the drought. This summer’s extreme heat and drought could shave roughly €180 billion off EU economic output this year, absorbing most of the 1.1% growth the European Commission had forecast for 2026. To rise to the challenge of this critical time of disruption and possibility we need new systems that put people and planet first – and the new economy movement offers a clear path forward. It’s worth planning ahead to attend Partners for a New Economy’s New Economies gathering in Bonn on October 12-13 to exchange real-world practices and strategies with attendees who share an unwavering commitment to build what must come next: an economic system that serves our interconnected Earth system, now and for future generations.
Next week, the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will be hosted by Mongolia in its capital city, Ulaanbaatar, under the theme ‘Restoring Land. Restoring Hope’. It’s the first UN land summit since this drought took hold, bringing governments together to tackle desertification, land degradation, and drought as one interconnected problem. It will be a critical test of whether restoration pledges will be matched with real drought-resilience funding. Running concurrently, World Water Week (August 23-27) tackles the water side of the equation, and the Science Based Targets Network will be pushing for stronger corporate action on freshwater with a session on science-based targets. As new Systems Change Lab freshwater data shows, safeguarding efforts are not advancing at the pace and scale necessary. Immediate, widespread action across the global freshwater system is needed to address the world’s intertwined climate and biodiversity crises, and ensure equitable access to water for all. This is not only a basic human right but the very foundation of human dignity and global prosperity.
Driving this urgent change at all levels requires collective insight, starting with yours. That is why we’ve extended the deadline to share your thoughts about our work, our website or this newsletter. If you haven’t already, please take a few minutes to share your views in our short survey. This work – and a just world, on a safe planet – belongs to all of us.
With all my best,
Sebastian Schienle, Co-Director (Partnerships and Programs)
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