Heat and floods: 9 out of 10 Italians experience extreme weather events.

90% of Italians have personally experienced the impact of extreme weather events over the past five years, and one in three has had to pay for the damages incurred out of their own pocket. This is what emerges from the participatory survey "The climate crisis is already here: what is changing for you?", promoted by WWF Italy together with the Laudato Si' Movement and conducted with the scientific support of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change.

Among the 2,423 citizens surveyed, 95% believe that extreme events have increased in their area. Heatwaves are indicated as the most impactful phenomenon, followed by intense rainfall and drought. Over half of the sample reported experiencing blackouts or electricity supply issues during summer peaks, while costs for material damages from floods often range between €1,000 and €5,000.

Despite the high perception of risk, long-term structural interventions are struggling to take off: only 28% have invested in solar shading and just 14% in green mitigation measures. The action of public administrations is perceived as highly insufficient and limited to emergency management.

The WWF investigation captures the concrete effects of the climate crisis on the daily lives of Italians, a phenomenon with deep roots. Global warming, primarily caused by greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use, began to accelerate significantly from the second half of the 20th century. This has altered weather patterns, making once-rare events, such as extreme heatwaves, violent floods, and prolonged droughts, increasingly frequent and intense.

Italy, due to its geographical position in the Mediterranean, is particularly exposed to these changes. In recent decades, the country has recorded a steady increase in average temperatures, with increasingly scorching summers. The combination of record heat and precipitation concentrated in short periods, often in the form of cloudbursts, puts severe stress on the territory, infrastructure (such as the power grid), and public health. The situation is worsened by land-use planning and defense systems (like embankments and drainage systems) that are not always adequate to manage events of this new magnitude.

The investigation shows how the population is reacting mainly with individual and short-term solutions, such as installing air conditioners, while collective and structural responses are lacking. This creates a vicious cycle: more air conditioners turned on to combat the heat increase energy consumption, stress the power grid, and can contribute to emissions, worsening the underlying problem. The slow implementation of the National Climate Change Adaptation Plan leaves citizens and communities exposed and forced to cope alone with the economic and social damages.