oil and coal instead. The energy crunch has spilled over into the broader economy, sending factory costs surging and threatening to push some of the continent’s largest economies into recession.
A mix of glacial run-off and rain feeds the river, but contributions from glaciers have dwindled in recent years as summer melting outpaces winter ice formation due to climate change. Below-average snowfall last winter and continued glacial attrition mean the waterway is particularly likely to fall to crisis levels, according to Switzerland’s federal weather service.