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The Guardian
4 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Rising food prices driven by climate crisis threaten world's poorest, report finds
Climate change-induced food price shocks are on the rise and could lead to more malnutrition, political upheaval and social unrest as the world's poorest are hit by shortages of food staples. New research links last year's surges in the price of potatoes in the UK, cabbages in South Korea, onions in India, and cocoa in Ghana to weather extremes that 'exceeded all historical precedent prior to 2020'. Such price jumps not only affect local food security and health, particularly for the poorest in society, but have knock-on effects around the world. Unprecedented monthly temperatures in February 2024 after drought in late 2023 and early 2024 across Ghana and Ivory Coast, where 60% of the world's cocoa is grown, led to global prices for the commodity spiking by 300%. The high price of staples can have an impact on public health as low-income households cut back on expensive fruit and vegetables, according to the report from a team including the UK's Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), the European Central Bank (ECB), the Food Foundation, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The study investigated examples across 18 countries between 2022 and 2024 where price spikes were associated with heat, drought and heavy precipitation. It found food price spikes can have a wider economic impact, making it harder for economies to keep down overall inflation and so, for example, bring interest rates down. A hot dry spring in the UK this year, for example, partly drove unexpectedly high UK inflation figures published last week, dampening expectations for further interest rate cuts this summer. The report also suggests 'high rates of inflation can directly alter election outcomes in modern democracies'. Maximilian Kotz, a Marie Curie postdoctoral research fellow at Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the lead author of the report, said: 'It is clear the cost of living played a role in last year's election in the US.' He added: 'These effects are going to continue to become worse in the future. Until we get to net zero emissions extreme weather will only get worse, but it's already damaging crops and pushing up the price of food all over the world. 'People are noticing, with rising food prices No 2 on the list of climate impacts they see in their lives, second only to extreme heat itself. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion 'Sadly, when the price of food shoots up, low-income families often have to resort to less nutritious, cheaper foods. Diets like this have been linked to a range of health conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.' Raj Patel, a research professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, said: 'Food price inflation is always political.' For example, people in Mozambique took to the streets when the price of bread shot up after extreme heat in Russia, a big wheat producer, prompted the country to block exports to protect meagre supplies in 2010 meaning the price of wheat soared globally. The research is published ahead of the UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake on 27 July, where world leaders will meet to discuss threats to the global food system.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Rising food prices driven by climate crisis threaten world's poorest, report finds
Climate change-induced food price shocks are on the rise and could lead to more malnutrition, political upheaval and social unrest as the world's poorest are hit by shortages of food staples. New research links last year's surges in the price of potatoes in the UK, cabbages in South Korea, onions in India, and cocoa in Ghana to weather extremes that 'exceeded all historical precedent prior to 2020'. Such price jumps not only affect local food security and health, particularly for the poorest in society, but have knock-on effects around the world. Unprecedented monthly temperatures in February 2024 after drought in late 2023 and early 2024 across Ghana and Ivory Coast, where 60% of the world's cocoa is grown, led to global prices for the commodity spiking by 300%. The high price of staples can have an impact on public health as low-income households cut back on expensive fruit and vegetables, according to the report from a team including the UK's Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), the European Central Bank (ECB), the Food Foundation, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The study investigated examples across 18 countries between 2022 and 2024 where price spikes were associated with heat, drought and heavy precipitation. It found food price spikes can have a wider economic impact, making it harder for economies to keep down overall inflation and so, for example, bring interest rates down. A hot dry spring in the UK this year, for example, partly drove unexpectedly high UK inflation figures published last week, dampening expectations for further interest rate cuts this summer. The report also suggests 'high rates of inflation can directly alter election outcomes in modern democracies'. Maximilian Kotz, a Marie Curie postdoctoral research fellow at Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the lead author of the report, said: 'It is clear the cost of living played a role in last year's election in the US.' He added: 'These effects are going to continue to become worse in the future. Until we get to net zero emissions extreme weather will only get worse, but it's already damaging crops and pushing up the price of food all over the world. 'People are noticing, with rising food prices No 2 on the list of climate impacts they see in their lives, second only to extreme heat itself. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion 'Sadly, when the price of food shoots up, low-income families often have to resort to less nutritious, cheaper foods. Diets like this have been linked to a range of health conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.' Raj Patel, a research professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, said: 'Food price inflation is always political.' For example, people in Mozambique took to the streets when the price of bread shot up after extreme heat in Russia, a big wheat producer, prompted the country to block exports to protect meagre supplies in 2010 meaning the price of wheat soared globally. The research is published ahead of the UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake on 27 July, where world leaders will meet to discuss threats to the global food system.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
No, David Suzuki hasn't given up on the climate fight — but his battle plan is changing
Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki made headlines last week when he said in an interview with iPolitics that humanity has lost its fight against climate change. "We're in deep trouble," Suzuki told the outlet. "I've never said this before to the media, but it's too late." Though he made it clear that he hasn't entirely given up, Suzuki says that rather than getting caught up in trying to force change through legal, political and economic systems, we now need to focus on community action. "I look at what the straight science says and that is that we've passed too many boundaries," said Suzuki in an interview with CBC News on Monday. "It's going to get hotter, there's going to be floods, and all kinds of other things that we can't predict at this point," he said. "As the temperature rises, even half a degree to a degree warmer, the repercussions ecologically are going to be immense." Suzuki says he goes by Johan Rockström's work with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research to define nine planetary boundaries, or safe limits, for human pressure on certain critical processes. During an interview with CBC in June about deep-sea mining, Rockström discussed how humanity is approaching tipping points when it comes to climate change. "We have more and more scientific evidence that we are pushing these systems to the brink of potential collapse," he says that we passed the seventh boundary this year and are now in the extreme danger zone, noting that Rockström says we have five years to get out of it. According to Suzuki, it's not likely we'll be able to pull back on these boundaries within five years. "It's crystal clear: we're going to overshoot." For example, there have been 12 consecutive months where temperatures warmed 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels — the threshold set by scientists to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change. "And that was the level we were supposed to reach by 2100," said Suzuki, noting that we haven't capped emissions and they continue to climb. "At some point, you have to say, we're not going to do it." Climate advocates have long said that one of the biggest things people can do to impact climate change is to vote, contact politicians and get involved. But now, Suzuki says he's changing his advice to environmental advocates. He says he hasn't given up on finding solutions, just on waiting for governments and institutions to take meaningful action. WATCH | Suzuki explains why he's given up on governments solving climate crisis: "It's an unpredictable world that we're heading to, and so much of our efforts in the environmental movement have been spent on assuming that politicians are going to take the right steps," he said. As an example, he recalls approaching an MP at a fundraiser gala for his non-profit environmental foundation. Suzuki says he believed the MP understood the severity of the climate crisis and urged him to reach out across party lines to take action because climate change couldn't remain political. But he says the MP responded by saying he was worried about the next election. "And I said, 'Are you saying that you're not going to do what should have been done years ago that must be done immediately because of the political possibility that you'll lose the next election?' " Suzuki recalled. "And he said, 'Yeah, that's politics — politics prevents you from doing the right thing.' " Having abandoned politics as a solution, Suzuki says he's turning to community. "Do we just give up? No," he said. "Get together with your local block or your series of blocks and start finding out who's going to need help in an emergency." Suzuki says the Kitsilano neighbourhood in Vancouver where he's lived for 50 years is having a block party next week that he hopes will help combat the isolation and loneliness he says will be major challenges for what lies ahead. There are other places in Canada that are also prioritizing community. The town of Lytton, B.C., is still rebuilding after a 2021 wildfire destroyed most of its homes and businesses. Part of their rebuilding plan includes a Community Hub project. "We're calling it a hub because we plan to have a number of services within that building … and an outdoor space like a covered festival, farmers market multi-purpose space as well," Lytton Mayor Denise O'Connor told CBC News. The community hub will be net zero and will also have climate resilience built in, with a swimming pool that can double as a water reservoir. Suzuki says this kind of community resilience will be key. LISTEN | How engaging with your community can help with climate anxiety: "Mother Nature is going to come down so hard that we're going to have to face up to the big changes, but I'm saying to environmental groups now, 'focus on the local community, get them to be as self-sufficient and self-reliant as you can possibly be,' " he said. "The science says that we're done for, but I'm saying at least the time that we've got left, let's fight like mad to be as resilient as we can in the face of what's coming."
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Business Standard
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
India pushes for Global Ocean Pact, launches data portal at UN meet
In 2024, the Potsdam Institute's Planetary Health Check warned that ocean acidity could soon become the seventh planetary boundary to be breached Puja Das Delhi Calling for urgent global action on ocean health, Union earth sciences minister Jitendra Singh, at the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, Paris, on Tuesday, pushed for a global ocean pact and launched SAHAV—a digital ocean data portal—to promote transparent, science-based ocean management, according to an official statement. The Ocean Pact is a comprehensive strategy to better protect the ocean, promote a thriving blue economy, and support the well-being of people living in coastal areas. This comes against the backdrop of mounting ocean challenges, including climate change, pollution, and overexploitation of marine resources, which require collective and urgent action. Global mean ocean pH has been steadily declining at rates not seen for at least the past 26,000 years, making the ocean more acidic. The ocean is, on average, about 4% more acidic than it was in 2015. This also assumes significance as the summers of 2023 and 2024 saw nearly 3.5 times the number of marine heatwave days compared to the average. There were also extreme and record-breaking heatwaves in 2022. Half of the marine heatwaves since 2000 would not have occurred without global warming, and they now last three times as long as they did in 1940. India also backed the swift ratification of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement and advocated for a legally binding global plastics treaty. Calling for a robust Nice Ocean Action Plan, Singh urged the international community to invest in innovation, ratify the BBNJ Agreement, and finalise the plastics treaty. 'The ocean is our shared heritage and responsibility,' he said, expressing India's readiness to work with all stakeholders—governments, private sector, civil society, and indigenous communities—to ensure a sustainable ocean future. The BBNJ Agreement, also known as the High Seas Treaty, is an international agreement aimed at protecting marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (the high seas). It is the third implementing agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The treaty aims to establish a comprehensive framework for managing marine resources and biodiversity in the high seas, addressing issues such as degradation, sustainable use, and benefit-sharing. The treaty is also essential to achieving the global 30x30 target—an international pledge to protect 30% of the planet's land and sea by 2030. It creates a legal process for countries to establish marine protected areas in the high seas, including rules for destructive activities such as deep-sea mining and geo-engineering. It also establishes a framework for technology-sharing, funding mechanisms, and scientific collaboration among countries. Crucially, decisions under the treaty will be made multilaterally through conferences of parties (COPs), rather than by individual countries acting alone.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Experts issue urgent warning on single factor that could cause trillions of dollars in food losses: 'We find damages almost everywhere'
The First Sentier MUFG Sustainable Investment Institute has estimated that the global food system could face up to $38 trillion in damages by 2050 because of the warming climate. According to the report, the world is headed for 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming by 2050, which could send food prices soaring and have a major impact on supply chains. Temperature extremes, heavy rainfall, flooding, droughts, and severe storms could cause widespread damage to critical infrastructure and ecosystems, which would affect the resilience of our food systems, as the Sustainable Times reported. Global food demand is expected to grow at a rate of 1.26% between 2023 and 2033, surpassing population growth across much of the world. However, the shifting climate could make it difficult to meet that demand, especially in areas heavily impacted by extreme weather. A separate study by researchers from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research found that not acting fast enough to address the climate could lead to average global economic losses of 60% by 2100. "The world population is poorer than it would be without climate change," Leonie Wenz, Potsdam climate data researcher and co-author on the study, told Reuters. "It costs us much less to protect the climate than not to." "Our study highlights the considerable inequity of climate impacts: We find damages almost everywhere, but countries in the tropics will suffer the most because they are already warmer," Anders Levermann, head of research department complexity science at the Potsdam Institute and co-author of the study, said in a news release. "They are also the ones with the least resources to adapt to its impacts." Aside from the massive financial toll of climate inaction, rising global temperatures caused by the overheating planet could make it harder to grow key crops the world depends on, including corn, wheat, rice, and soybeans, according to the World Economic Forum. This would likely result in more expensive groceries worldwide and disrupt the ecosystems humans depend on for healthy food. Do you worry about how much food you throw away? Definitely Sometimes Not really Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Prices on many foods have already soared because of worsening weather in places like Australia, Spain, and Portugal. In addition, the Sustainable Times reported that a study by Christian Aid found that cocoa prices have climbed 400% in recent years because of extreme heat and heavy rainfall in Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria. If humans don't take steps to drastically reduce pollution from burning dirty fuels, global food systems could suffer in the near future. In the report by the Sustainable Investment Institute, researchers said that better soil management, a shift to more climate-resilient crops, and technology innovations such as artificial intelligence-powered systems could mitigate some of the consequences of the climate crisis. They also suggested that investors prepare by "demanding robust disclosures from food businesses," as the Times explained. This could include climate risk scenario models and other frameworks. In addition, speeding up our transition to cleaner energy sources will lower the planet's temperature by reducing the amount of planet-warming pollution in the atmosphere. "It is on us to decide: structural change towards a renewable energy system is needed for our security and will save us money," Potsdam researchers said. As consumers, we can help by eating more plant-based foods and shopping locally. Both of these actions cut down on pollution and benefit our wallets. With a little planning, you can also shop smarter and save some cash at the grocery store. Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more and waste less, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
