Meat and vegetables could become too expensive for many people if global temperatures continue to rise, according to a report from the Sustainable Consumption Institute.
The report, What’s Cooking? Adaptation and Mitigation in the UK Food System was produced by researchers at the University of Manchester after a two-year study which calculated the emissions of all goods consumed in the UK, including foods produced overseas but eaten here.
If temperatures rise by 4°C and current consumption trends continue, the report predicts rocketing prices forcing Britons to adapt to meat-free diets.
The rise in temperatures, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, would also result in droughts in some parts of the world, causing staple crops such as rice to fail. Consequently there could be widespread famine.
Paradoxically, reducing meat consumption now could cut emissions. The report warns that only by reducing consumption of energy, food, goods and services can we have a good chance of minimising the harmful effects of global warming.
“In countries like the UK, policymakers have focused so much on the CO2 emissions linked to energy, that agriculture and food has been overlooked.” said Dr Alice Bows, the report’s lead author. “The failure of the global community to turn rhetoric into reality and put meaningful policies in place to urgently cut emissions means that we are facing future temperature increases around 4°C, which will be devastating to agriculture and fundamentally alter food provision.”
