“If you ask an economist why everything is so expensive these days, you will likely get an answer explaining how oil — the lifeblood of the global economy — is currently facing supply bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz, thereby bringing up global energy prices.” https://theconversation.com/as-the-climate-breaks-down-costs-go-up-welcome-to-climateflation-289352
But this is only part of the answer. As Jeremy Clarkson is finding out as a farmer, you need rain and a favourable climate to grow grain. Britain is facing one of the worst harvests on record, and the agricultural collapse is driven by record emissions and heatwaves. “Enter the great volatility? Synthesizing a theory of ‘climateflation’ for international political economy. International Political Economy (IPE) has long viewed inflation as a central force driving instability. More recently, scholars have foregrounded climate change as a central theme of analysis for IPE
The field of International Political Economy (IPE) was founded roughly half a century ago to better interpret the causes of instability within the global political economy and identify ways to mitigate it… Simultaneously, over the last half century, Earth’s climate has endured rapid changes, impacting production, supply chains, trade relations, and thus the costs of goods and services (IPCC, 2023)
Rising food and fuel prices in 2026 are also expected to influence the U.S. midterm elections, while also contributing to housing and food insecurity (Waldman & Lefebvre, 2026). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14747731.2026.2688005
Climateflation is the process through which society’s climate interface, including the causes of climate change, its consequences, and efforts to address it, combines to influence prices.
- Fosilation: The process through which the historical dominance of (and dependence upon fossil fuels) in global energy systems influences prices.
- Carbonflation: The process through which changes in the Earth’s carbon cycle and their associated changes to weather patterns and ecosystems influence prices.
- Greenflation: The process through which transition policies aim to mitigate and adapt to climate change influences prices.
- Warflation: The process through which resource wars like Ukraine, Venezuela, and Iran influence prices
Preppers talk about Shrinkflation, something we share with Iran. Iran was attacked because the regime was perceived by Trump to have been weakened by the drought and food shortages. A gross underestimation, and one that is likely to influence the US election and Trump’s future. Shrinkflation and the switch from chocolate grown in Africa to precision-fermented chocolate, which uses engineered microbes or controlled synthetic cultures to produce cocoa butter equivalents, flavor compounds, or bean-free chocolate alternatives. This technology reduces climate and supply chain pressures on traditional cocoa farming by growing identical fats and aromas via fermentation.
We are no longer on the cusp of a global food crisis. We are in the midst of a climate change-driven agricultural collapse. But most people refuse to see this. The laugh emojis that appear on climate-driven Facebook posts mostly belong to the guy on the ass, trailing behind the 4 horsemen, claiming they are not real and it’s all a scam to raise taxes and make money.
John of Patmos would probably agree that now there are 5 horsemen of the apocalypse, and they are all at large:
- Conquest: The continuation of colonialism: State resource theft against weaker nations. Cultural theft from indigenous people
- War & Genocide: The collapse of civilisations is a bloody business, the scramble to grab land is at the expense of those who are indigenous
- Famine: Agriculture and food systems collapse
- Fascism & Stupidity: The guy on the ASS!
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