EDITOR'S COMMENT
OILS & FATS INTERNATIONAL
VOL 37 NO 7 SEPTEMBER/ OCTOBER 2021
EDITORIAL: Editor: Serena Lim serenalim@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855066 Assistant Editor: Gill Langham gilllangham@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855157 SALES: Sales Manager: Mark Winthrop-Wallace markww@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855114 Sales Consultant: Anita Revis anitarevis@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855068 PRODUCTION: Production Editor: Carol Baird carolbaird@quartzltd.com CORPORATE: Managing Director: Tony Crinion tonycrinion@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855164 SUBSCRIPTIONS: Elizabeth Barford subscriptions@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855028 Subscriptions, Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road, Redhill, Surrey RH1 1QX, UK © 2021, Quartz Business Media ISSN 0267-8853 WWW.OFIMAGAZINE.COM
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Oils & Fats International
2 OFI – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
Comment Sept.Oct.indd 1
Climate alarm
With extreme weather events striking us in the space of just a few months – from Hurricane Ida hitting the US Gulf to wildfires raging across southern Europe – the effects of climate change feel very real and are already directly impacting our industry. Hurricane Ida damaged several US agribusiness facilities and is expected to affect US grain and oilseed exports, transport times and costs (see p4).
In South America, the continent’s second largest river – the Paraná – has been drying up, reaching –0.28m at the Port of Rosario on 9 August, the lowest level recorded since 1944. Cities along the river have been running dangerously low on water, vessels have been loading a quarter less cargo than normal for fear of getting stuck and the cost of moving products has risen. The Paraná carries more than 80% of Argentina’s agricultural exports to the Atlantic Ocean, including almost all of its soyabeans. Meanwhile, a new study authored by German climatologist Niklas Boers and published in Nature warns that weakening ocean currents in the Atlantic will result in longer, hotter and drier summers across the Mediterranean basin, with a profound impact on olive growing and olive oil production, particularly in Spain and Italy – the world’s two largest olive oil producers. Climate sceptics would contend that forest fires, hurricanes, droughts, heat waves and storms have always occurred throughout human history. However, as National Geographic explains, while climate change has not been proven to directly cause individual extreme environmental events, it has been shown to make these more destructive and more likely to occur frequently. A broad range of evidence shows that our world has warmed by 10C above pre-industrial levels, due to the burning of fossil fuels increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which trap heat within the Earth’s atmosphere. Warmer air holds more water vapour and when this turns to rain, it tends to fall in heavy downpours, potentially leading to more floods and problems like landslides. Higher temperatures also lead to increased evaporation and surface drying, with a new report estimating that Brazil has lost almost a fifth of its surface fresh water in the past decade (see p4). Extreme heat can also lead to more frequent, severe and prolonged heat waves and droughts and can make forest fires worse. The effects of climate change go well beyond oilseed crops and agriculture – it encompasses the world’s freshwater supplies, land degradation, rising sea levels, food security, livelihoods, health and widespread migration, with all the human and economic costs that come with it. We are seeing the effects of 10C of change and the target for a climate-safe world is to keep global warming to below 1.50C. However, on current trends, our GHG emissions will heat the planet’s surface by another 3-40C by 2100. Is it already too late? Some observers are describing the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) due to take place in November in Glasgow as the last chance to make necessary changes. The most recent hurricane and wild fires are the alarms bells sounding yet again for humanity to fundamentally change how we produce, distribute and consume almost everything, starting with energy, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns we must do. Serena Lim serenalim@quartzltd.com www.ofimagazine.com
15/09/2021 10:56:47
