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Dry field in Sichuan in 2020
Photo: TPG/Getty Images
In China, the heat wave that has been going on for two months combined with a severe drought has had a massive impact on people and the economy.
In the province of Sichuan, households are experiencing power outages, and factories have to slow down or stop work.
The region obtains most of its energy from hydroelectric power.
According to the Sichuan Daily, the authorities in the region are asked not to keep the temperature in government buildings with air conditioning systems below 26 degrees Celsius.
Employees there were also asked to use stairs instead of elevators to save energy.
The drought has reduced the area's hydroelectric reservoirs by about half.
In addition, the increasing demand for air conditioning is causing problems for energy providers - the systems are putting a strain on the power grid.
The region has recently been regularly more than 40 degrees.
According to the authorities, the two-month heatwave is the longest on record in China.
Millions of residents are therefore affected by power outages.
Factories have to close for several days
According to local media, the power outages in the city of Dazhou lasted up to three hours.
According to this, factories in the province were asked to reduce production or stop work in order to restore power to households.
A few days ago, the regional government ordered that industrial companies in 19 out of 21 cities in Sichuan had to suspend production for several days to save electricity.
Several companies announced in announcements to the stock exchange that they had stopped production.
Provinces around the country's longest river, the Yangtze, have already shot chemicals into the sky to make it rain, the BBC reports, citing local media.
The Yangtze has dried up in parts.
CNN quoted the Department of Water Resources as saying that the drought "threatened the drinking water security of rural people."
China is both a victim and a perpetrator of climate change.
The country is responsible for a good 30 percent of global CO₂ emissions (more than all other countries in the world combined), but is also increasingly suffering from the consequences of changing climate.
Consequences include massive crop failures, flooding and heat waves.
The country is strongly expanding wind and solar energy.
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