Researching the impact of ‘climateflation’ on food prices

A research project has been launched to improve our understanding of the impact of climate change on food prices.

The Food Foundation is supporting a consortium of academics, campaigners and analysts to assess the extent of recent climate-induced food price shocks on UK food supplies, prices and production.

Understood to be the first of its kind, the project will use novel methods to quantify the impact that projected climate change may have in the future on access to nutritious foods and therefore human health.

It will help inform policymakers about what policies will be needed across agriculture, public procurement and the wider supply chain to be able to better adapt to these impacts, in order to build resilience and reduce the impacts on food prices in the future.

Anna Taylor, Executive Director at the Food Foundation, said: "This exciting new project will help us understand the link between climate change and food prices and their knock-on effects on the affordability of nutritious food and human health.

"Importantly we’ll also be researching policy measures which can help make citizens more resilient to climate related food price volatility."

The University of Aberdeen, University of Sheffield, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and The Food Foundation are participating in the research, which is a two and a half year project.