Climate change is threatening world’s beer supply
Widespread and severe drought and heat could cause substantial decreases in barley yields worldwide, affecting the supply used to make beer: Study
London: Severe climate events could cause shortages in the global beer supply, which was likely to result in “dramatic" falls in consumption and rise in prices of the most popular alcoholic drink in the world, a study said.
The finding, published in journal Nature Plants, warned that widespread and severe drought and heat could cause substantial decreases in barley yields worldwide, affecting the supply used to make beer.
Beer is the most popular alcoholic drink in the world by volume consumed, said researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK.
Although the frequency and severity of drought and heat extremes increase substantially in a range of future climate scenarios, the vulnerability of beer supply to such extremes was never assessed, they said.
In recent years, the beer sector consumed around 17% of global barley production, but the share varied drastically across major beer-producing countries — from 83% in Brazil to 9% in Australia.
Results from the new study revealed potential average yield losses ranging from 3% to 17%, depending on the severity of the conditions, researchers said. Decreases in global supply lead to proportionally larger decreases in barley used to make beer.
During the most severe climate events, the results indicate that global beer consumption would decline by 16%, or 29 billion litres — roughly equal to the total annual beer consumption in the US — and that beer prices would on average double.
Even in less severe extreme events, beer consumption drops by 4% and prices rise by 15%.
The findings suggest that total beer consumption decreases most under climate change in countries that consumed the most beer by volume in recent years. For example, the volume consumed in China — the largest consuming country — falls by more than any other country as the severity of extreme events increases, and by 4.34 billion litres in the most severe, according to researchers.
In the UK, beer consumption could fall between 0.37 billion and 1.33 billion litres, while the price could as much as double. Consumption in the US could decrease by between 1.08 billion and 3.48 billion litres.
“Research has begun to project the impact of climate change on world food production, focusing on staple crops such as wheat, maize, soybean, and rice," said Dabo Guan, a professor at UEA.
However, if adaptation efforts prioritise necessities, climate change may undermine the availability, stability and access to ‘luxury’ goods to a greater extent than staple foods.
People’s diet security is equally important to food security in many aspects of society.
“Although some attention has been paid to the potential impact of climate change on luxury crops such as wine and coffee, the impact on beer has not been carefully evaluated. A sufficient beer supply may help with the stability of entertainment and communication in society," according to Guan.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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