A photo presentation from Reuters claims that parmesan cheese is threatened by climate change because heat waves are causing declining milk production and more expensive cool storage costs. This is false. Cheese production has been increasing amid modest warming, and the cost of temperature controlled storage is not going to get cheaper if you force a transition away from less expensive energy sources like fossil fuels.
The presentation, “How climate change is putting traditional parmesan cheese at risk,” introduces the topic by saying that “Heat waves are taking a toll on Italy’s parmesan cheese industry, reducing milk production and increasing energy costs,” and that cooling is expensive.
One photo caption of cheese in cold storage says that the peak of recent heatwaves in Montecavolo di Quattro Castella, Italy, caused a 30 percent increase in daily power use. Another shows dairy cows being misted with water to cool them down.
If the climate change of the past decades were damaging cheese production, one would expect to see yields of milk and cheese production drop along with the modest temperature increase. Based on ERA5 reanalysis satellite anomaly data (whether or not this dataset/model can be trusted is up for debate) there has been an increase in the number of “hot days,” or days above 86°F in Italy, but data simply does not show that it’s impacting the production of cheese.
In fact, Parmigiano Reggiano, one of the main cheeses highlighted in the Reuters coverage, has experienced significant growth in production over the past decade, setting a new all-time record in 2021 that was then broken in 2025. (See the chart, below). This is despite the fact that there are fewer cows. So the production growth is based on improved yields from cows. Like all agricultural products, not every year is going to be a great one, but the long-term trend for Parmesan is positive.
Weather events like heatwaves will always add to electricity costs, and always have.
Ironically, what actually could endanger parmesan production is if Italy leans too hard into so-called green energy, which is more expensive and could make production cost-prohibitive for many cheesemakers.
Italy has already begun to make this mistake. Electricity demand is rising even as Italy increases the amount of intermittent, expensive solar it has installed across the country. Despite solar installed capacity expansion, electricity generation in Italy has declined as the country attempts to “decarbonize.” Natural gas still powers the bulk of Italian electricity, but cheap coal has been shut down over time. Renewables like wind and solar are not cheaper than traditional electricity generation fuels when the Levelized Full System Costs of Electricity are accounted for; electricity generated from solar can be 10 times as expensive as natural gas and four times more expensive than coal.
Also, it should be obvious that culling dairy herds in order to mitigate the impact of cattle on methane emissions as some European leaders have recommended, would also be disastrous for all cheese production.
While it may be an interesting to see how weather can impact the cost of electricity or animal husbandry and dairy operations, it is false to claim climate change is causing problems for Italy’s cheese producers. Parmesan production is thriving, but if Italy insists on “decarbonizing” in the name of climate change, it may suffer some real declines. With this story, Reuters is reaching for a political angle rather than accurately portraying the state of Italy’s dairy industry and the threats posed to it by expensive, intermittent wind and solar power.
