Climate risks to trade and food security: implications for policy

This policy brief presents policy insights from a groundbreaking assessment of climate risks to international trade in six major commodities. Transboundary climate risks to global food security are critical and mounting but, until now, have been largely unrecognized by the global community. Our assessment reveals how these risks are distributed via international trade in six key commodities, linking producers and consumers thousands of kilometres apart. Traditional approaches to managing trade risk, such as substitution and diversification, will be ineffective in a world that is facing accelerating climate change impacts simultaneously.

The authors set out policy considerations under four main areas:

• Effective and just adaptation action is vital, particularly in key exporting countries 
• Prioritizing global cooperation on adaptation – and mechanisms to achieve it 
• Rethinking climate finance for adaptation 
• Who is responsible for adapting to climate risks to food trade?