WWF urges climate risk assessment for Gepatsch reservoir

The WWF is calling for an independent climate risk assessment of the Gepatsch reservoir in Tyrol’s Kaunertal, saying comprehensive investigations into changing hazards linked to climate change are still lacking, ORF reported.

The reservoir lies close to permafrost areas. Thawing permafrost can destabilise rock faces, while large rockfalls into the reservoir could trigger dangerous flood waves. The WWF cited the 2025 rockfall at Blatten in Switzerland, the 2023 Fluchthorn rockfall and a recent flood and debris flow caused by a rock and glacier collapse on the border between Tibet and Nepal.

“The climate crisis is intensifying natural hazards in the high mountains. Minister Totschnig must therefore order an independent climate safety check for the Gepatsch reservoir now,” said Maximilian Frey of the WWF’s Tyrol office.

The organisation is also calling for the environmental impact assessment procedure for the expansion of the Kaunertal power plant to be suspended. The plans include another reservoir at Platzertal with a capacity of 42 million cubic metres.

“All risks must be clarified before this becomes a catastrophe,” Frey said.

Glaciologist and geomorphologist Wilfried Haeberli of the University of Zurich also called for a thorough assessment. His estimate for the Gepatsch reservoir identifies a screening area of about five kilometres in which the possibility of a collapse event into the reservoir should be examined in greater detail. The estimate is intended to help select the area for further investigation and does not establish an acute threat.

The WWF said detailed inquiries to TIWAG, the state of Tyrol and the ministry showed that comprehensive studies of the changing risks from thawing permafrost and possible rockfalls and landslides had not yet been carried out.