JPMorgan warns extreme heat is reshaping energy demand

JPMorgan Warns Extreme Heat Is Reshaping Energy Demand

As Europe endures its second deadly heat dome in two months, JPMorgan Chase is warning that the increasing frequency of extreme heat events is fundamentally altering how the world consumes energy — and straining infrastructure to its breaking point.

“On extreme hot days everything is pushed to its limit,” Sarah Kapnick, the bank’s global head of climate advisory, said in an interview published Tuesday by the Financial Post.financialpost

The warning arrives as temperatures across western and central Europe surpass 40 degrees Celsius, with France, Spain, Britain, and Italy all under their highest-level heat alerts. At least 18 people have died in France, including two children left in a hot car, according to Reuters. France recorded its hottest June day ever on Monday, with temperatures reaching 43 degrees Celsius in the central town of Chaumeillant.cnbc

A Continent Under Strain

The heat wave is already rippling through energy markets. French power demand rose to about 52.4 gigawatts last week, the highest since mid-April, as cooling demand surged. At the same time, warming rivers are forcing Electricité de France SA to curtail output at nuclear plants cooled by the Rhône and Garonne rivers, squeezing supply just as demand peaks.energyconnects

Kapnick, a former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has repeatedly argued that companies are underpricing climate risk. In previous remarks, she warned that without adaptation, climate change could cost global businesses $1.2 trillion annually by the 2050s, with utilities alone facing $244 billion in yearly losses.energycentral

Grid Resilience as National Security

JPMorgan’s broader research has framed the vulnerability of aging electricity infrastructure as a national security issue. In a March report authored by Kapnick, the bank called the U.S. power grid — much of which was built in the 1960s and 1970s — a “national security risk” and forecast $5.8 trillion in global grid investment between 2026 and 2035.thestreet

The stakes are not theoretical. Earlier this month, the U.S. Energy Department declared a power emergency in the Southeast after dangerous heat threatened blackouts in the Carolinas, authorizing Duke Energy to exceed pollution limits to keep generation running.livemint

JPMorgan projects global electricity demand will grow more than 2% annually over the next five years, roughly four times the pace of the previous decade, driven by AI data centers, electrification, and increasingly by cooling demand in a warming world.yahoo