El Niño Q&A: Food Crisis Fears, AMOC Collapse Risk — SkimNews
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Watts dismissed tech-based climate 'panaceas' — carbon capture, blue hydrogen, carbon credits, and AI — as 'fake fixes' propagated by the fossil fuel industry since the 1980s to delay action, urging instead proven solutions like ending fossil fuels and electrifying energy.
- The World Food Programme projected that 274 million people across 45 countries could face food insecurity by the end of next year, with El Niño expected to disrupt agricultural bread baskets and supplies of coffee, chocolate, and palm oil.
- Maximo Torero of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned that global food prices, already climbing from geopolitical pressures, will rise further as El Niño adds new stresses to already-fragile supply chains.
- Canon noted global food supply chains were already strained by Trump's tariffs, the war in Iran, Strait of Hormuz shipping restrictions, and elevated fertilizer costs, with El Niño forecast to hit at peak disruption this winter.
- Zeke Hausfather said there is now 'sufficient evidence from multiple sources' that global heating has accelerated in recent years, while NASA Goddard Institute director Gavin Schmidt told Watts in 2023 that scientists were debating whether the sudden sea surface temperature rise since 2023 was a blip or an alarming trend.
- Stefan Rahmstorf compared AMOC collapse risk to 'a 10% chance of an airplane crashing,' with new research projecting a 42%–58% slowdown by 2100 — 'almost certain to end in collapse' — and AMOC already at its weakest in 1,600 years.
Why it matters: The Q&A consolidates warnings that El Niño will hit food systems already strained by tariffs, Strait of Hormuz shipping disruptions, and fertilizer costs. The World Food Programme projects 274 million people across 45 countries will face food insecurity by next year. It also surfaces growing scientific consensus that global heating is accelerating faster than prior models.
Ask SkimNews
