Higher temperatures mean higher food and other prices. A new study links climate shocks to inflation

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

A study by an environmental scientist and the European Central Bank finds that food prices and overall inflation will rise as temperatures climb with climate change. Thursday’s study looks at monthly price tags of food and other goods, temperatures and other climate factors in 121 nations since 1996. The researchers calculate that weather and climate shocks will cause the cost of food to rise between 1.5 and 1.8 percentage points annually within a decade or so, even higher in already hot places like the Middle East. That may not sound like much but to economists it’s a lot.