What mattered this week

Another waterway closed. This time drought, not war

Hormuz, Black Sea… another? The Rhine. The 6,900 commercial vessels on the river are running 20% load so they don't scrape the bottom. Prices up 3x.

Remind me why I care? The Rhine is critical infrastructure - moves Europe's fuel, grain and chemicals. 2022's smaller drought cost Germany ~0.3% of GDP.

Read more: Reuters; Javier Blas on the four waterways (Bloomberg £)

ENTIRE 1980s had fewer 30°C days than 2026 so far 🤯

Better music too. Yup. Heathrow has 24 30C days this year. Against 21 days in the entire 1980s 😳 (Data here)

Make it worse. Kew Gardens: Zero rain in July. Never happened before. Southern England saw 2% of its average July rainfall (Met Office)

Britain is running out of… wasps 🐝

Sorry, what? A national wasp shortage. Yes.

Isn't that… good for picnics? Uh huh. But, issues: Wasps help pollination, and eat smaller pests. And if the noisy ones are dying… what about the others?

Read more: AOL

One thing to worry about

The Mediterranean is warming faster than other seas, as the warmth can’t get out (like your bath with the hot tap running).

Result: 100s of invasive species fundamentally altering ecosystems and fisheries. (AP)

One thing to be optimistic about

China just 10x-ed its electric cargo ships in 3 years, from 4 to 42.

The biggest is 10,000 tons and never refuels – a crane swaps its batteries like shipping containers. (Auto Notion)

If you’ve got more time…

For whoever keeps telling you "it's just summer” send them Berkeley Earth’s “A summer of extremes in context”

• The warmest ocean ever measured in June

• Second warmest June ever (behind 2024)

• Record heatwaves across EU

• Fires from Canada to Scotland

• A super El Niño arriving early

We’re so cooked.