🌽Global food prices are rising.
“Put plainly, climate change is beginning to outpace us because it is interacting with our complex, interrelated economic and food systems.” -Andrew Challinor
After COVID-19 disrupted global supply chains, consumers saw a marked increase in the price of food. Fortunately, those inflated prices began to drop steadily in 2023.
🧐With global food prices rising in six consecutive months, economists (and consumers) are asking – why?
Yes. Climate Change is making food more expensive.
👉Along with other external shocks, the acceleration of extreme weather events (heat waves, tornadoes, hurricanes) is disrupting global agricultural yields and, thus, putting upward pressure on the price of crops.
Professor Elizabeth Robinson notes this dynamic:
“Earlier this year cocoa prices rapidly increased, a consequence of extreme weather conditions, linked in part to El Niño, resulting in multiple poor harvest seasons in west Africa, combined with longer-term pressures, including disease and ageing cocoa trees, and short-term pressures, particularly speculation, exacerbating the situation further.”
Unprecedented heat waves in Southeast Asia are disrupting rice yields, leading to uncertainty for farmers and increased prices for consumers.
👉 Increased food prices hit low-income families the most.
Poorer families are impacted the most, considering they spend a greater share of their income on food. Small price increases can have devastating effects.
Understanding the intersectionality of climate change is crucial.
🌍At SoHo Global Climate Fund, we believe that reversing climate change is not just an environmental issue—it is an economic and social issue impacting billions. As highlighted, extreme weather events can have exacerbating effects on food insecurity and price volatility—phenomena that most impact low-income families. Thus, in addressing climate change, we also address humanitarian problems such as food insecurity, income inequality, and agriculture.
