And here’s another thing You can blame on climate change: raging worldwide inflation
Do you do the shopping to put food on your table? Then you’ve no doubt been shocked by rising prices at your local supermarket. Meat is more expensive. And vegetables. And dairy. And non-fresh grocery items.
So who do you blame? President Biden’s economic policies? Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Increased demand from a fast-growing world population?
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Maybe (though the White House would probably argue with that part). But, according to new research, there’s another reason: global warming. Yes, a study in the journal Communications, Earth and the Environment says that “weather and climate shocks” will cause the cost of food to rise 1.5-1.8% annually within the next decade because of climate change. And it will be even worse in already hot places such as the Mideast.
Looking at food and other goods, temperatures and other climate factors in 121 nations since 1996, scientists commissioned by the European Central Bank further estimated that this — solely from climate change — would add to overall inflation by 0.8-0.9% by 2035.
“The physical impacts of climate change are going to have a persistent effect on inflation,” said study lead author Max Kotz, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “This is really from my perspective another example of one of the ways in which climate change can undermine human welfare, economic welfare.”
For instance, the study points to 2022’s European heat wave as a recent example. High heat limited crops, causing food prices to rise two-thirds of a percentage point and overall inflation to jump about one-third of a percentage point, Kotz said. Prices rose even higher in parts of central and southern Europe.
And it’s likely to get worse. By 2060, Kotz and his colleagues estimate, the climate-triggered part of inflation will grow, with global food prices predicted to increase 2.2 to 4.3 percentage points annually, the study said. That translates to a 1.1 to 2.2 percentage point increase in overall inflation.
Something to mull as you eat dinner tonight.
