You may have noticed that Easter eggs are more expensive this year. But did you know that the climate crisis is one of the reasons for this?
Most chocolate is made from cocoa grown in West Africa, but a humid heat wave destroyed crops and greatly reduced yields. Experts say human-induced climate change has made extreme heat 10 times more likely — and some popular Easter eggs have increased in price by 50% or more.
The shortage of cocoa resulting from the heat wave caused prices to soar to almost US$8,500 (about R$42,300) per tonne this week. Cocoa trees are particularly vulnerable to climate change, as they only grow in a narrow band of about 20 degrees of latitude around the Equator.
The severe drought conditions that have hit the West African region since February this year were caused by temperatures that exceeded 40ºC, breaking records in countries such as Ivory Coast and Ghana. According to the World Weather Attribution group, these high temperatures have become 10 times more likely due to greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for global warming and the climate crisis.
A recent study concluded that unless the world rapidly reduces its use of fossil fuels, West Africa will experience similar heatwaves every two years, the BBC reveals.
“There have been reports from farmers in Côte d’Ivoire that the heat has weakened the cocoa crop,” according to one of the study’s authors, Izadine Pinto, from the University of Cape Town. She said high temperatures increased the rate of evaporation, leaving crops without enough moisture. Another factor that impacted crops was El Niño, a natural and recurring fluctuation in weather patterns in the tropical Pacific that increases global temperatures and can lead to extreme weather conditions in some places. A strong El Niño has been active since last June.
