A new study, published Monday, reveals that the extreme weather conditions caused by climate change increase the prices of basic food in the world.
The study conducted by Maximillian Kotz of Barcelona SuperComputer Center analyzed 16 cases distributed in 18 countries around the world.
These examples show how prices have experienced short -term increases between 2022 and 2024, due to extreme climatic phenomena such as intense heat waves, droughts or precipitation.
The cost of a wide range of products, from Californian vegetables to Brazilian coffee, has experienced spectacular increases in recent years.
According to the study, this increase is due to weather conditions “so extreme that they have exceeded all previous historical before 2020”.
The price of vegetables increased by 80 % in California and Arizona in November 2022, compared to the previous month of November, the western states of the United States suffering from extreme heat and water shortages during the summer of 2022.
In South Korea, cabbage prices increased by 70 % last September compared to the previous year, following a heat wave in August.
The price of olive oil jumped 50 % in Europe in January 2024 after prolonged drought in Italy and Spain in 2022 and 2023, while one of the most serious droughts that Mexico has experienced in the past decade has also resulted in a 20 % increase in the prices of fruits and vegetables during the same month.
Rice prices climbed 48 % in Japan in September 2024 following a heat wave that was the most intense since the start of regional statements in 1946, with the exception of summer 2023, just as hot.
Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire represent almost 60 % of world cocoa production. Thus, a heat wave that struck these countries at the beginning of 2024 and which, according to scientists, was aggravated by 4 ° C by climate change resulted in a massive increase of 280 % of world cocoa prices in April of that year.
Greater risks on the company
Healthy foods tend to cost more than their less healthy alternatives, so an increase in food prices can often lead households with low incomes to reduce their consumption of nutrients such as fruits and vegetables, according to the new study.
It highlights the “societal cascade risks” that result, the prices influenced by weather conditions which can contribute to health complications such as malnutrition, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
By rimming the prices of foodstuffs, extreme weather conditions can also worsen global inflation, which can lead to political and social upheavals, the researchers noted.
“As long as we have not reached carbon neutrality, extreme weather phenomena will only get worse, and they are already causing crop damage and increase the food price all over the world,” said Kotz, who also works for the Potsdam’s climate impact Institute in Germany, in a press release dedicated to study.
The publication of this study precedes the “Stocktake” conference of the United Nations Summit on Food Systems, which will be held on Sunday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and in which world leaders will meet to examine the threats to the global food system.