FAO Food Price Index (left) and FAO Food Commodity Price Indices (right), January 2021 - March 2022. Graphic: FAO

The FAO Food Price Index makes a giant leap to another all-time high in March 2022

8 April 2022 (FAO) – The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 159.3 points in March 2022, up 17.9 points (12.6 percent) from February, making a giant leap to a new highest level since its inception in 1990. The latest increase reflects new all-time highs for vegetable oils, cereals, and meat sub-indices, while those of […]

Global net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions projected to 2050. Projected global GHG emissions from Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs) announced prior to COP26 would make it likely that warming will exceed 1.5°C and also make it harder after 2030 to limit warming to below 2°C. Graphic: IPCC

Amid backsliding on climate, the renewables effort now must be tripled – “A litany of broken climate promises”

By António Guterres 4 April 2022 (The Washington Post) – A report released Monday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a litany of broken climate promises. Together with the IPCC’s previous two reports on physical science and adaptation in the past year, it reveals the yawning gap between climate pledges and reality. And the reality is that we are […]

Map showing projected global changes in the number of undernourished people under the severe scenario over the medium term, March 2022. Graphic: FAO

FAO alarmed by uncertainty over wheat harvest in Ukraine – “War could seriously escalate food insecurity globally, when international food and input prices are already high and volatile”

By Marta Rullan 26 March 2022 ROME (EFE) – The planting of the next wheat season in Ukraine, “which could significantly affect world food insecurity, is still extremely uncertain” because of the war, the director general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Qu Dongyu, told EFE, who was also very concerned about […]

Smoke rises after Russian shelling near Kyiv, Ukraine, on 17 March 2022. Photo: Gleb Garanich / REUTERS

Russia’s war on Ukraine threatens climate goals, warns UN chief – “This is madness. Addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction.”

By Fiona Harvey 21 March 2022 (The Guardian) – The war in Ukraine risks putting global targets on the climate out of reach, the UN secretary general has warned, if countries respond to Russia’s aggression by increasing their use of fossil fuels. António Guterres said the aim of limiting global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, […]

FAO Food Price Index, January 1961 - February 2022. In February 2022, the FAO Food Price Index (FFPI), averaged 140.7 points, up 5.3 points (3.9 percent) from January and as much as 24.1 points (20.7 percent) above its level a year ago. This represents a new all-time high, exceeding the previous top of February 2011 by 3.1 points. The February rise was led by large increases in vegetable oil and dairy price sub-indices. Cereals and meat prices were also up, while the sugar price sub-index fell for the third consecutive month. Graphic: FAO

FAO Food Price Index rose to new all-time high in February 2022

4 March 2022 (FAO) – The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 140.7 points in February 2022, up 5.3 points (3.9 percent) from January and as much as 24.1 points (20.7 percent) above its level a year ago. This represents a new all-time high, exceeding the previous top of February 2011 by 3.1 points. The […]

A woman weeps in front of a residential building that was damaged during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, 11 March 2022. Alexander Ermochenko / REUTERS

Russia invasion in “world’s breadbasket” threatens global food supply – Number of undernourished people could increase by 8 to 13 million in 2022-2023 – “Wars mean shortages, and shortages mean price hikes”

By Frances D’Emilio 11 March 2022 ROME (AP) – Poorer countries in northern Africa, Asia, and the Middle East that depend heavily on wheat imports risk suffering significant food insecurity because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the conflict is poised to drive up already soaring food prices in much of the world, the U.N. food agency […]

Trends in atmospheric CO2 vs. global temperature change, 1958-2020, with climate conference dates indicated. #climateINACTIONstripes Graphic: @MuellerTadzio / @wiebkemarie / @MariusHasenheit / @sustentioEU

Graph of the Day: Atmospheric CO2 vs. global temperature change and climate conference dates, 1958-2020

10 January 2022 (Sustentio) – Climate conferences? All well and good, but what we need is action! Peter Gericke, Marius Hasenheit from Sustentio, together with Tadzio Müller and Wiebke Witt, have visualized international climate diplomacy, the increase in CO2 concentration, and heating of our planet. And thus landed a huge success on Twitter: More than 1000 retweets and shares by Greta […]

Projected coal demand in the Stated Policies Scenario in the World Energy Outlooks 2021, 2020, and 2016. The International Energy Agency’s flagship outlook in October 2021 projected that under nations’ existing policies, global demand doesn’t begin falling again for several years. Then it declines but in 2050 is still at 70 percent of today’s levels. The IEA’s roadmap for reaching net-zero global emissions by 2050 requires a 55 percent decline by 2030. Graphic: IEA

After COP26: The long road to phasing down coal – “It is hard to shut down coal facilities because few countries have sufficient spare capacity in their electricity systems to be able to do so”

By Ben Geman 16 November 2021 (Axios) – Let’s leave to history to see whether the COP26 deal to “phase down” coal instead of “phase out” makes any real-world difference, but what’s clear is that any meaningful “phasing” at all is hard. Why it matters: Coal is the most carbon-intensive fuel. Any pathway to meeting the Paris Agreement […]

Total Annual CO2-e emissions in Australia during the Labor and Liberal governments. Photo: The Juice Media

Honest Government Ad: COP26 Climate Summit – “Fuck you: we’ll keep digging, burning and exporting fossil fuels, let you to do the hard work, and then take all the credit”

27 October 2021 (The Juice Media) – I’m from the Australien Government with a message for the world as we gather in Glasgow for this crucial climate summit: Fuck you. Over the coming days our Prime Marketer will be there trying to shake a lot of hands and saying a lot of blah blah blah […]

A woman collects water from a puddle in the dried Manambovo river bed in Tsihombe, Madagascar, 2 May 2021. Photo: Viviane Rakotoarivony / UN / REUTERS

UN says 400,000 are approaching starvation in Madagascar amid back-to-back droughts – “This is not because of war or conflict, this is because of climate change”

UNITED NATIONS, 26 June 2021 (AP) – The U.N. World Food Program says southern Madagascar is in the throes of back-to-back droughts that are pushing 400,000 people toward starvation, and have already caused deaths from severe hunger. Lola Castro, WFP’s regional director in southern Africa, told a news conference Friday that she witnessed “a very dramatic […]

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