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Arabian Post
22-05-2025
- Business
- Arabian Post
Climate Disruption in Africa Threatens Europe's Food Security
A growing crisis in African agriculture, driven by climate change and biodiversity loss, is jeopardising Europe's access to essential food imports, including cocoa, coffee, and maize. New research indicates that over half of the European Union's imports of these staples originate from countries ill-equipped to handle escalating environmental challenges. A report by UK-based consultancy Foresight Transitions reveals that the EU's dependence on climate-vulnerable nations for key commodities is intensifying the risk of supply chain disruptions. The study highlights that 96.5% of cocoa, a cornerstone of Europe's chocolate industry, is sourced from countries with low resilience to climate impacts, while 77% comes from regions suffering significant biodiversity degradation. West African nations, particularly Ivory Coast and Ghana, are central to this issue. These countries supply the majority of the EU's cocoa, yet are experiencing declining yields due to erratic weather patterns, deforestation, and soil degradation. Farmers in these regions are increasingly resorting to clearing protected forests to maintain production levels, exacerbating environmental degradation and threatening long-term sustainability. ADVERTISEMENT Coffee production is similarly affected. Ugandan coffee growers report that unpredictable rainfall and rising temperatures are damaging crops, leading to reduced harvests and financial instability for smallholder farmers. The situation is further complicated by the limited availability of climate-resilient coffee varieties and inadequate support for adaptation measures. Maize, another critical export from Africa to Europe, is facing challenges from prolonged droughts and increased pest infestations. These factors are contributing to lower yields and heightened food insecurity within exporting countries, raising concerns about the reliability of future exports to the EU. The EU's own agricultural sector is not immune to climate impacts. Adverse weather conditions have led to an average annual loss of €28 billion, according to a joint report by the European Investment Bank and the European Commission. This domestic vulnerability underscores the importance of stable imports to meet the continent's food demands. Experts warn that the current trajectory is unsustainable. Camilla Hyslop, a researcher involved in the Foresight Transitions study, emphasises that these environmental threats are already manifesting in tangible ways, affecting businesses, employment, and consumer prices across Europe. In response, there is a growing call for the EU to invest in climate adaptation and biodiversity protection initiatives within its supply chain countries. Such efforts could include supporting sustainable farming practices, enhancing infrastructure, and providing financial assistance to smallholder farmers to build resilience against environmental shocks. The situation also raises ethical considerations regarding the EU's role in contributing to environmental degradation in its supplier countries. Critics argue that the EU's demand for commodities like cocoa and coffee is driving deforestation and biodiversity loss in Africa, effectively exporting environmental harm while benefiting from the resources. Addressing these challenges requires a multifaceted approach that balances the EU's food security needs with the imperative to support sustainable development in its partner countries. This includes re-evaluating trade policies, investing in climate-resilient agriculture, and fostering equitable partnerships that prioritise environmental stewardship and economic stability.
Euronews
22-05-2025
- Business
- Euronews
6 key EU food imports exposed to biodiversity loss and climate change
Six of Europe's key food imports are under increasing threat from biodiversity loss and climate change, a new report warns. Commissioned by philanthropic initiative the European Climate Foundation, UK consultants Foresight Transitions examined the vulnerability of staple crops maize, rice and wheat, as well as cocoa, coffee and soy - key commodities for EU agrifood production and exports. They found that more than half the imports of these six foodstuffs were from climate vulnerable countries with limited resources to adapt. For three - wheat, maize and cocoa - two-thirds of imports come from countries whose biodiversity is deemed not to be intact. 'These aren't just abstract threats,' says lead author of the report, Camilla Hyslop. 'They are already playing out in ways that negatively affect businesses and jobs, as well as the availability and price of food for consumers, and they are only getting worse.' As the world's biggest producer and exporter of chocolate, it is the EU's chocolate industry - worth an estimated €44 billion - that faces the biggest threat from these twin environmental factors. Around 97 per cent of chocolate's primary ingredient, cocoa, comes from countries with a low-medium or below climate score, as per the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index. This tool combines a country's vulnerability to climate damages with its access to financial and institutional support. And 77 per cent of cocoa comes from countries with a medium or below biodiversity rating, according to a ranking of biodiversity intactness from the UK's Natural History Museum, which compares the current abundance of wild species to pre-modern levels. The researchers mapped trade data from Eurostat onto these two rankings of environmental security for all six commodities. In the case of cocoa, European imports come from a few main countries in West Africa - Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria - all of which are experiencing overlapping and intensifying climate and biodiversity impacts. 'The European Union has forked out an increasing price for cocoa imports as a result of these environmental pressures, with the total value of imports increasing by 41 per cent over the last year,' says Hyslop. 'The increasing value has also been driven by climate-related increases in the price of sugar, highlighting the environmental 'double whammy' facing not only chocolatiers but other kinds of producers using multiple environmentally-sensitive inputs.' Chocolate prices have gone up 43 per cent in the last three years, according to a recent analysis by green think tank Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), with 'chocflation' evident on supermarket shelves. While previous studies have assessed the climate vulnerability of food imports, the new research stands out for its focus on biodiversity loss and how these two environmental factors interact. 'Climate impacts are made worse by declining biodiversity, which leave farms and surrounding ecosystems far less resilient to climate and other shocks,' explains Hyslop. 'Not only are less biodiverse farms less resilient to crop disease - these diseases often emerge due to decreased biodiversity.' On top of this, yields are diminished by the clearing of native vegetation, which can alter local microclimates. While practices such as monocropping - where a crop like wheat is exclusively grown - deplete the soil on which food production depends. One response to this rising insecurity in Europe's supply chains is to produce more food on the continent. But, argues Dr Mark Workman, director of Foresight Transitions and co-author of the report, this 'reshoring' would by itself be a wholly insufficient response. 'Not only would the EU struggle to grow some of these commodities in large quantities, it is facing its own climate and biodiversity threats - not to mention the unpalatable land-use implications of significant reshoring of food production.' Hyslop underscores the global nature of the climate crisis, too. While higher rainfall in 2024 left cocoa rotting in West Africa, she writes, floods in the UK and France decreased wheat production, and high temperatures in Eastern Europe disrupted maize crops - making imports crucial for food security. 'It is therefore entirely in the self-interest of EU policymakers to get serious about investing in the climate resilience of partner producers as well as overseas trading infrastructure such as ports that support this trade and are also subject to environmental stresses,' adds Workman. 'This is an important message to convey at a time when overseas aid budgets are often being pitted against investments in defence and security - but the truth is they are two sides of the same coin.' Policy recommendations the report sets out include measures to support smallholder farmers, who supply the majority of cocoa to the EU. And, 'the most obvious' one, strong climate mitigation policies, which will have positive benefits for all supplier countries.
Express Tribune
21-05-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Chocolate industry faces mounting supply threats from global warming: Report warns
Listen to article Climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are exposing the European Union to mounting risks in its food supply chains, with cocoa imports at the heart of what experts have called a 'chocolate crisis,' a new report said on Tuesday. The analysis by UK-based consultancy Foresight Transitions found that more than two-thirds of key food imports into the EU in 2023 came from countries ill-prepared for climate change. The study mapped Eurostat trade data against environmental readiness scores from the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index and biodiversity rankings from the UK's Natural History Museum. It identified six key commodities – cocoa, coffee, soy, rice, wheat and maize – as particularly vulnerable. Cocoa stood out as the most exposed. The EU sourced nearly 97% of its cocoa imports from countries with poor climate preparedness and 77% from nations with degraded biodiversity. 'These aren't just abstract threats,' said Camilla Hyslop, lead author of the report. 'They are already affecting prices, availability, and jobs — and it's only getting worse.' Most cocoa comes from West African nations, where rising temperatures, unpredictable rains, and biodiversity decline are combining to stress farming systems. The report argued that large chocolate manufacturers should invest in climate adaptation and biodiversity protection — not just as a sustainability effort, but as a risk management strategy. 'This is not an act of altruism,' the report noted, 'but a vital derisking exercise.' Ensuring fair prices for farmers, it added, would allow investment in climate resilience on the ground. EU maize and wheat imports were also heavily reliant on countries with medium to low environmental readiness, according to the study. Maize was especially vulnerable, with 90% of imports coming from countries with poor climate scores. Environmental experts warn the trend undermines the EU's assumption of food security. 'This paints an extremely worrying picture,' said Paul Behrens, a food systems expert at the University of Oxford. 'The EU likes to think of itself as self-sufficient, but the data show deep dependencies on fragile ecosystems abroad.' The report, commissioned by the European Climate Foundation, also flagged concerns around coffee, soy and rice. Uganda, for example, which supplied 10% of the EU's coffee last year, scored low on climate readiness and biodiversity intactness. Ugandan coffee farmer advocate Joseph Nkandu called for increased access to international climate finance to help smallholders cope with erratic weather patterns. 'The weather in Uganda is no longer predictable,' he said. 'Our coffee bushes are suffering from prolonged dry spells and unseasonal rains.' Oxford researcher Marco Springmann, who was not involved in the report, said deeper reform of food systems was needed. 'Resilience isn't just about stabilising current supply chains,' he said. 'We also need to move away from overreliance on crops like soy, which are primarily used to feed livestock.'
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
EU's ‘chocolate crisis' worsened by climate breakdown, researchers warn
Climate breakdown and wildlife loss are deepening the EU's 'chocolate crisis', a report has argued, with cocoa one of six key commodities to come mostly from countries vulnerable to environmental threats. More than two-thirds of the cocoa, coffee, soy, rice, wheat and maize brought into the EU in 2023 came from countries that are not well-prepared for climate change, according to the UK consultants Foresight Transitions. For three of the commodities – cocoa, wheat and maize – two-thirds of imports came from countries whose biodiversity was deemed not to be intact, the analysis found. The researchers said the damage to food production by climate breakdown was made worse by a decline in biodiversity that has left farms less resilient. 'These aren't just abstract threats,' said the lead author of the report, Camilla Hyslop. 'They are already playing out in ways that negatively affect businesses and jobs, as well as the availability and price of food for consumers, and they are only getting worse.' The researchers mapped trade data from Eurostat on to two rankings of environmental security to assess the level of exposure for three staple foods and three critical inputs into the EU's food system. They used a ranking of climate readiness from the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index, which combines a country's vulnerability to climate damages with its access to financial and institutional support, and a ranking of biodiversity intactness from the UK Natural History Museum, which compares the current abundance of wild species to pre-modern levels. They found the majority of imports came from countries they ranked 'low-medium' on the climate scale and 'low-medium' or 'medium' on the biodiversity scale. Some food products were particularly exposed. The EU imported 90% of its maize from countries with low-medium climate readiness and 67% from countries with medium or lower biodiversity intactness, the report found. For cocoa, a key ingredient in the chocolate industry that Europe does not grow itself, the import exposure was 96.5% for climate preparedness and 77% on the biodiversity scale, the report found. The industry is already struggling with rises in the price of sugar, driven in part by extreme weather events, and supply shortages of cocoa. Most of its cocoa comes from west African countries facing overlapping climate and biodiversity risks. The report, which was commissioned by the European Climate Foundation, argued that large chocolate manufacturers should invest in climate adaptation and biodiversity protection in cocoa-growing countries. 'This is not an act of altruism or ESG [sustainable finance], but rather a vital derisking exercise for supply chains,' the authors wrote. 'Ensuring farmers are in their supply chains paid a fair price for their produce would allow them to invest in the resilience of their own farms.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Paul Behrens, an environmental researcher at the University of Oxford and author of a textbook on food and sustainability, who was not involved in the research, said the findings painted an 'extremely worrying picture' for food resilience. 'Policymakers like to think of the EU as food-secure because it produces quite a lot of its own food,' he said. 'But what this report shows is that the EU is vulnerable to climate and biodiversity risks in some vital food supply chains.' The report found coffee, rice and soy had fewer risks overall but noted hotspots of concern. Uganda, which provided 10% of the EU's coffee in 2023, had low climate preparedness and low-medium biodiversity intactness, the report found. Joseph Nkandu, founder of the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises in Uganda, called for more access to international climate finance to help farmers become more resilient in the face of worsening weather. 'The weather in Uganda is no longer predictable,' he said. 'Heatwaves, prolonged dry spells and erratic rains are withering our coffee bushes and damaging production.' Marco Springmann, a food researcher at the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the research, said a shift to healthier and more sustainable diets would be needed for food systems to withstand climate shocks. 'About a third of grains and basically all imported soy is used to feed animals,' he said. 'Aiming to make those supply chains more resilient therefore misses the point that this supports the very products that are to a large degree responsible for what is being tried to protect from.'
