the “world’s factory” is slowing production, a victim of drought that has forced much of China to shut down. Global heat waves don’t respect authoritarian authority, and the drought hitting southern China has left rivers dry—and a hydropower-dependent country struggling to keep the lights on. China’s misfortune put an urgent issue into sharp relief: How can countries climate-proof their architecture and infrastructure? In an era of sudden shocks and climate disasters, economies can’t survive with the old norms—and adapting for resilience could help them reduce their carbon dioxide emissions too.
This month, a relentless drought on the British Isles caused water companies to impose hosepipe bans on large parts of the country. That’s bad news for gardeners and somewhat good news for farmers, who had been facing a devastating harvest loss. As I pointed out in a previous Foreign Policy piece, a continental drought has caused the Rhine’s
