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Drought in Austria exacerbates fodder shortage – increasing numbers of cattle undergoing emergency slaughter
In August 2026, Austria’s agricultural sector is suffering from a historic drought, with severe consequences for cattle farmers and slaughterhouses. A shortage of fodder is forcing many farmers to reduce their herd sizes and significantly bring forward scheduled slaughter dates. In Salzburg, daily slaughter numbers at Alpenrind have risen from around 250 to approximately 400…
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PV grid fee from 2029: Solar owners set to pay surcharge of up to 90 percent
Bonn – On August 6, 2026, the Federal Network Agency published its final draft ruling on new electricity grid charges. It proposes a grid fee for low-voltage consumers who are also producers, effective from 2029. This surcharge is set to amount to 70 to 90 percent of the base grid charge—not the total electricity tariff.…
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Brombeerkopf Wind Farm: Nearly 1.8 hectares of forest to make way for two 246-meter-tall turbines
Construction work at the Brombeerkopf wind farm near Stegen, in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district, has already visibly altered the character of the forest site. Images from July 26, 2026, show cleared areas, exposed soil, removed stumps, and newly constructed gravel access roads. Approval has been granted for the permanent conversion of 1.345 hectares of forest and…
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Rolling power outages in Tunisia – electricity is being rationed despite an abundance of sunshine
Tunis – On August 5, 2026, the state-owned utility STEG announced potential rolling power outages across the country. Individual sectors were scheduled to be taken off the grid sequentially between 12:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., for a maximum of two hours at a time. The measure constitutes controlled load shedding in response to excessive demand;…
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Job cuts at Schaeffler: another 1,300 jobs to go, debt rises
Herzogenaurach – Schaeffler is cutting around 1,300 additional jobs in Germany. The company is responding to weak automotive markets, high restructuring costs, and losses in its electric vehicle business. The E-Mobility division posted an adjusted loss of 402 million euros for the first half of the year. At the same time, net financial debt rose…
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Germany’s AAA rating at risk: Loss of top grade could cost billions
Berlin, August 2026. Germany’s AAA rating increasingly hinges on a growth boost that the credit-fueled investment drive has so far failed to deliver. The federal government plans to incur approximately €1.02 trillion in new debt by 2030 through the core budget and special funds. Meanwhile, the economy grew by just 0.2 percent in the second…
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Increasing number of engineers unemployed – 58,392 technical and IT specialists without a job
The VDI/IW Engineer Monitor published on August 3, 2026, reports a new record high for Germany. In the fourth quarter of 2025, an average of 58,392 individuals in engineering and IT professions were without a job each month. This marked the highest number of unemployed engineers since data collection began in 2011. The figure rose…
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EU age verification for social networks – a Trojan horse
A commentary by our author Klaus Bastian The EU age verification system aims to keep children below a set age limit off social networks. In July 2026, an EU Commission expert panel recommended restricting access for children under the age of 13. The European Parliament, however, is calling for a limit of 16. There is…
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Green steel: €5.9 billion in funding at risk of going to waste
Düsseldorf – A PwC study published in early August 2026 fundamentally calls into question Germany’s multi-billion-euro strategy for green steel. According to the study’s calculations, primary steel fails to achieve sustainably competitive costs in any of the scenarios examined for Central Europe. Nevertheless, federal and state governments have pledged approximately €5.9 billion in subsidies to…
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Fuel theft following fuel tax cut: Thieves siphon off thousands of liters of diesel
Since the fuel tax discount ended on June 30, police authorities in several federal states have reported new cases of fuel theft. More than 5,000 liters of diesel went missing in Versmold, Münster, and Saxony alone. Other perpetrators targeted parked trucks in Brandenburg. At the same time, the price of diesel rose by 26.8 cents…
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Schwarze Pumpe Battery Plant: Altech Abandons Facility Set to Create Up to 1,000 Jobs
On July 30, 2026, Altech terminated its Cerenergy project in the Saxon section of the Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park. The Schwarze Pumpe battery factory project failed because the company was unable to find a strategic partner, despite nine months of negotiations. Consequently, conditional federal funding of up to €46.7 million proved insufficient to secure the…
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Parental support: €100,000 protection threshold set to be scrapped – families paying for three generations
A commentary by our author Klaus Bastian The draft legislation on long-term care from June 2026 announces plans to roll back the €100,000 income threshold for parental support obligations in a separate procedure. This move is driven by rising municipal expenditure on long-term care assistance. Consequently, young families would be required to pay for the…
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Russian LNG: In July, Belgium imports exclusively from Russia
Brussels/Zeebrugge – In July 2026, Belgium sourced all its imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia. Around 0.4 million tonnes of Russian LNG arrived in Belgium, while total imports fell by more than 40 percent year-on-year. The war in the Middle East disrupted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, leaving Russia as the sole LNG…
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Prolonged drought: Rhine water level at Düsseldorf hits historic low
Due to a lack of rainfall, the Rhine water level near Düsseldorf has reached a new historic low. On Friday morning, the level briefly dropped to just 14 centimeters, according to data published by the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration. The previous record low, recorded in 2018, was 23 centimeters. Low water levels persist at…
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22,800 MW solar surplus: PV expansion outpacing grids and storage
On August 2, 2026, Germany set a new August record for solar power generation, reaching 450 gigawatt-hours. A recent analysis put the calculated solar surplus at 22,800 megawatts at times. This was driven by high PV feed-in and low electricity consumption on a Sunday. At the same time, there was a lack of sufficient storage,…