Climate change negatively affect different aspects of our existence and our planet – from male fertility, to pollution, to biodiversity. Now a study published on Communications Earth & Environment He investigated the report between climate change and inflation, predicting that, at this rate, by 2035 the increase in temperatures will make the food price of 0.9-3.2% annually, causing an increase in inflation general between 0.3 and 1.2%. These figures could be even greater in the areas of the world already very hot, such as the Middle East.
Heat and more expensive food. To get to their conclusions, the researchers compared the monthly prices of different goods and services in 121 countries between 1996 and 2021, observing their correlation with climatic factors such as the average monthly temperature, drought and extreme rainfall. The results are clear: The increase in temperatures is closely connected with food inflation.
In the regions north of 40 degrees of latitude (i.e. from New York, Madrid and Beijing up) the above average temperatures raised the food prices in winter, and made them rise in the summer; In the rest of the world, however, the anomalous heat has always increased them. These effects are lasting: “Once increased, prices remain high throughout the year”, explains Max Kotz, coordinator of the study.
A recent example. Other factors, such as extreme rains, have engraved less in food prices than temperatures – this perhaps because, while floods are located, the increase in temperatures is a generally more extensive phenomenon. The scholars took as an example the heat wave that hit Europe in 2022, following which food supplies collapsed causing an increase in the prices of food products of 0.67% and making general inflation rise of about 0.3%.
Plumbee forecast. In the worst case, global food inflation due to climate change could rise up to exceed 4 percentage points in 2060. The team, however, claims that the most realistic forecasts are those that arrive at 2035, since from here to 36 years Farmers could (and should) have adapted their work to better resist the rise in global temperature.
