From chocolate to home insurance, climate change is making life more expensive

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Shoppers are seen at a Toronto grocery store on Feb. 2. While consumer spending was up for the fourth quarter of 2023, it continued to decline on a per capita basis, according to Statistics Canada's report Thursday.

Extreme weather events such as droughts or wildfires are not only causing localized damage but are affecting crop yields, supply chains and the durability of housing, all of which is making life more expensive.Chocolate, rice and olive oil are just some of the grocery items that have become more expensive, thanks to climate-related events. If chocolate is your pleasure, you've undoubtedly noticed it costs more these days to get your fill.

Most people have been touched by inflation in recent years, and there's been animated debate about the prime source. Observers and pundits have blamed the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting government stimulus, low interest rates, low unemployment, even the carbon tax. "There's lots of evidence for Canada, U.S., and internationally that we're just going to increasingly feel climate change in the cost of food, fibre and agricultural output, and energy demands will change, along with the effect of temperature on labour productivity," said McCarney.

"It's not usually a problem, but should we have weather patterns such that we could not run those barges at full capacity on the Mississippi River, we would have to find another way to move that grain, which would increase the cost of it," he said.Climate disasters like wildfires and flooding are also hitting people where they live, and that's having an impact on insurance premiums.

"We're seeing not only more severity, but more of these events," said de Pruis, noting that this is putting "pressure on home insurance premiums."

 

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