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

SETH BORENSTEIN

Food prices and overall inflation will rise as temperatures climb with climate change, a new study by an environmental scientist and the European Central Bank found.

Looking at monthly price tags of food and other goods, temperatures and other climate factors in 121 nations since 1996, researchers calculate that “weather and climate shocks” will cause the cost of food to rise 1.5 to 1.8 percentage points annually within a decade or so, even higher in already hot places like the Middle East, according to a study in Thursday’s journal Communications, Earth and the Environment.

And that translates to an increase in overall inflation of 0.8 to 0.9 percentage points by 2035, just caused by climate change and extreme weather, the study said.

Those numbers may look small, but to banks like the U.S. Federal Reserve funds that fight inflation are significant, said study lead author Max Kotz, a