Wednesday, 14 May, 2025
- Climate change continues to push up the cost of groceries at the checkout
- Extreme weather events are driving shortages in fruit, vegetables, grain and beef, causing price spikes
- FCA releases new essay The Cost of Climate Change at the Checkout, by food value chain and sustainability specialist Robert Poole
Australians are paying more at the checkout for essentials like fruit, vegetables, beef, bread and coffee — and climate change is a key reason why.
A new essay released today by Farmers for Climate Action and authored by Corporate Value Partners’ Partner Robert Poole, brings together compelling evidence that climate impacts are pushing up food prices through their effects on supply and global markets. The Cost of Climate Change at the Checkout draws on data from across the global food value chain.
Polling conducted in late April by QDOS Research, using a representative sample of 1004 Australians, reveals most Australians already recognise climate change is driving up grocery prices:
- 65% agree that climate change is driving up the cost of some fruit and vegetables (14% disagree, 17% neither agree nor disagree, 3% don’t know)
- 72% agree that worsening floods, fires and drought pose a significant threat to farming (11% disagree, 14% neither, 3% don’t know)
- 61% support accelerating the rollout of clean energy projects (13% disagree, 23% neither, 3% don’t know)
The release of the essay comes as farmers across South Australia and Victoria grapple with the worst drought in years, which has severely reduced pasture and feed availability. This is expected to send meat prices higher and make food more expensive, as reported in the Herald Sun.
Farmers for Climate Action CEO Natalie Collard said it’s time to shift from just acknowledging the cost of climate change to actively addressing its causes.
“Climate change means more expensive coffee, bread, fruit and vegetables. World Bank data shows coffee bean prices have jumped by between 78% and 103% over the past year due to drought in South America,” Ms Collard said.
“This surge is now flowing through to café prices in Australia, with average coffee prices rising by nearly 40%. Australians need to understand that droughts, fires and floods — whether here or overseas — directly affect the prices we pay for coffee, beef and bread.”
Ms Collard said extreme climate events were also sending global wheat prices sharply higher.
“Drought across key U.S. grain states Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Texas drove global wheat prices up by 35% in 2022. That makes bread more expensive in Australia, because our bakers pay global market prices for wheat, just like Australia pays a global price for gas.
“Similarly, beef prices in Australia are affected by droughts in countries like the US and Brazil, which shrink global supply. And as grain prices rise, so too does the cost of feeding livestock — again pushing beef prices up.”
She added that climate change is also worsening the spread of diseases that disrupt our food supply chains.
“Avian flu, which has worsened due to changing climate conditions, has caused the culling of millions of laying hens. As a result, egg prices have risen by 10% over the past year.”
This latest analysis builds on FCA’s Fork in the Road report, which highlighted how climate-driven extreme weather in Australia was cutting off supply routes and triggering fruit and vegetable price spikes, including for bananas.
“We need to stop calling these events ‘natural disasters’ — because they are no longer natural,” Ms Collard said.
Media contact:
Celia Murray
0488 770 284
