New Report Demonstrates How Climate Change is Making Groceries More Expensive Due to Reduced Food Supply

NEW YORK, NEW YORK—SEPTEMBER 24, 2024—As part of its Climate Finance Day event held in New York yesterday as part of Climate Week, the shareholder representative organization, As You Sow released a new report titled, Climate Inflation – How Extreme Weather is Driving Up the Price of Food. 

The report is the result of several years of tracking hundreds of press stories, academic papers, and analysis on their website ClimateInflation.org. The website links climate-induced droughts, flooding, rising sea levels, hurricanes, wildfires, and other extreme weather events to reduced crop yields that have made grocery bills unaffordable for many families. Prices are now significantly higher for olive oil, coffee, milk, chocolate, wine, cheese, almonds, cereal, seafood, fruit, tomatoes, and just about every global food staple as a result of carbon pollution.

A recent study by Cornell University researchers showed a warming planet had already reduced farming productivity by 21% since 1961, creating a new “food polycrisis.” As NASA’s Jonas Jägermeyr recently told The New York Times, climate is driving a “fundamental change across most breadbaskets on the planet.”

“It’s simple supply and demand,” said Andrew Behar, As You Sow’s CEO. “Climate change leads to extreme weather that reduces crop yields so food is more expensive. Its already hitting your pocketbook and impacting what’s for dinner – tonight. Most people don’t connect to climate change emotionally; our event at New York City Climate week will discuss this topic and we will serve what we call “climate-endangered foods.” People will be tasting peaches from Georgia, chocolate from Ecuador both of which lost 90% of their recent crops due to extreme heat, droughts, and flooding.”

This is the first of a series of planned reports to cover the climate impact on everyone’s pocketbook. Future reports will go beyond higher prices at the grocery store and examine increased homeowners insurance (if you can get it), as well as homebuilding materials, clothing, and just about every aspect of our lives.

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