Almost a quarter of UK grocery items are at risk of climate breakdown and could go missing from supermarket shelves in coming years.
According to new research by charity Christian Aid, 22% of fruit, vegetables, pulses and meat products in the UK originate from countries with high climate change vulnerability and low climate readiness levels.
This includes Brazil, South Africa, India, Vietnam, Peru, Colombia, Ivory Coast and Kenya.
Further warming would mean more harvest-destroying extreme weather events, which could leave consumers facing more price rises and products missing from supermarket shelves, such as bananas, grapes, avocados, coffee and tea.
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This comes as the National Farmers Union (NFU) urged the government to take domestic food production seriously last month and to ensure food is given the same focus and political prioritisation as the environment.
The Union’s president, Minette Batters, said: “I have never known such volatility in the global food system. Climate change is wreaking havoc on food production across the world, with farmers in Southern Europe literally fighting fires while farmers here are despairing as they now must spend thousands of pounds to dry sodden grain.”
Christian Aid chief executive, Patrick Watt, added: “The UK may be an island but in an ever more interconnected world we cannot escape the damage caused by climate change.
“The climate crisis is increasingly disrupting the supply chains of the food in British shopping baskets and risks adding to the cost-of-living crisis. The UK government must work with others to provide the financial support needed to help vulnerable communities adapt to a fast-changing climate.”
In March, Waitrose unveiled plans to invest £1m over the next few years to help suppliers in Africa and South America impacted by climate change.
The Waitrose Foundation established a new ‘Climate Resilience Programme’ which will provide guidance and tools on how to mitigate the effects of global warming.
