Climate change will affect food prices, study finds
In the years to come, global warming and successive heat waves will drive up food prices around the world. That's the conclusion of a study published this week in the journal
Communications Earth and Environment
. The countries of the South will be the most affected by this inflation.
A thermometer indicates a temperature of 34°C in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2023 (illustrative photo). AFP - NELSON ALMEIDA
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Agriculture is particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change. Researchers from the University of Potsdam and the
European Central Bank
therefore wanted to know what their impact could be on the price of our food.
To determine this, they compared food costs and climate conditions in 121 countries between 1996 and 2020. And they were able to prove that higher temperatures systematically cause food prices to rise.
From there, the researchers extrapolated this data based on predictions of our climate conditions in the future. Result: the rise in temperatures predicted for 2035 will increase food prices by at least 1.49 percentage points per year.
This figure is a global average. The actual impact will vary greatly depending on the seasons and regions. Africa
and Latin America will be the continents most affected, but not the only ones
.
In Europe, the heatwave of summer 2022 has already been responsible for an increase of 0.67 points in food inflation.
Read alsoClimate: before COP29, countries are trying to move forward on the thorny issue of financing
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