Rising Temperatures Are Threatening Italy’s Bank Reserves—Because They’re Made of Parmesan Cheese

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Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

For more than 70 years, the bank Credito Emiliano, or Credem, has accepted matured wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese as collateral for dairy farms.In one of the hottest summers on record, costs to keep those wheels cool have soared by 30 percent and the bank has rushed to implement better cooling infrastructure.The heat also impacts the region’s dairy cows, who tend to lie on the ground and eat less grass in extreme heat, decreasing the production of milk for cheese.

As climate change exacerbates extreme weather around the world, no place is harder-hit than Europe this summer. France shattered temperature records in June and July, England experienced higher-than-average temps every day in July, and more than 10,000 people in Germany have died due to the heat.

Italy isn’t escaping unscathed—an anticyclone parked over the Mediterranean brought in warm air from North Africa and blocked out cooling winds from the Atlantic. In early August, all 27 of Italy’s major cities were put on the highest heat alert, while electricity consumption has been pushed to historic levels. That’s a problem for, among other things, Italy’s cheese.

For more than 70 years, the Italian bank Credito Emiliano, known more commonly as Credem, has taken unmatured wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese as collateral for dairy farms. Because cheese can take a year (or several) to mature, dairy farms can receive 60 to 80 percent of the value of the cheese up front and Credem stores the cheese in climate-controlled vaults. But in the face of Italy’s devastating heatwave, the bank was forced to rush to upgrade cooling systems, boilers, insulation, and even to build out renewable power, as the vaults’ energy consumption climbed 30 percent at the height of the heatwave, according to Euronews.

Keeping these wheels cool is of the utmost importance. Two warehouses in Northern Italy contain approximately 500,000 wheels of cheese. When the wheels arrive, they’re first x-ray-scanned to ensure there are no defects and then checked for quality every week by experts who tap the wheels with small hammers, a method to detect if any flaws have developed during the aging process. The entire cheesy collection is worth roughly $350 million, and the U.S. is the largest foreign market for this immense reserve of parmesan, but the impacts of this summer’s unrelenting heat extend far beyond these two warehouses.

Higher temperatures also impact the production of the world-famous cheese in the first place. As temperatures get hotter and hotter, cows tend to lie on the ground, eat less grass, and as a result, they produce 10 percent less milk. Of course, extended drought also impacts the grasses that grow in the five provinces allowed to produce parmesan, which is ultimately the engine that drives the entire cheese-making industry.

“Extreme heat impacts milk’s quality and quantity,” Nicola Bertinelli, president of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, told Reuters. “If it doesn’t rain, grass doesn’t grow, hay cannot be produced, and it’s impossible to obtain the milk needed to make the cheese.”

The consortium tells Axios that the production of Parmigiano Reggiano isn’t currently at risk, but this summer’s extreme heat has laid bare serious vulnerabilities at the heart of this 800-year-old industry. Without a global shift away from fossil fuels, which are fueling the climate crisis while lengthening and intensifying summer heatwaves across Europe, the future of Italy’s cheese-making industry will be under threat.

“If extreme events become longer-lasting and more intense, they will certainly have an impact on both the quantity and quality of milk, but above all they will lead to higher costs,” Paolo Ganzerli, an international sales director of the food group that makes Parmigiano Reggiano, told Reuters. “We don’t want to be the last generation to eat it.”

Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.