New research from European Central Bank and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research finds that a warming planet resulting from climate change is already increasing the price of food and can exacerbate inflation in the years to come, reports CBS News.
The researchers analyzed historic price fluctuations alongside climate data to find a relationship between the two in the past and what it could mean for the future. They projected that continued global warming may increase prices between 0.6 and 3.2 percentage points by 2060. The range depends on how well the world can address climate issues in the years to come.
"Inflation goes up when temperatures rise, and it does so most strongly in summer and in hot regions at lower latitudes, for example the global south," Maximilian Kotz, the paper's author and a scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said in a statement.
Some foods will be impacted more than others: yields of corn fall drastically after temperatures reach 86 degrees Fahrenheit. A 2021 NASA study found that, by 2100, corn yields across the world could drop by 24 percent.
Recent climate anomalies have given a glimpse of the issues that may transpire because of climate change.
"The heat extremes of the 2022 summer in Europe is a prominent example in which combined heat and drought had widespread impacts on agricultural and economic activity," the researchers wrote. Full Story
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