Climate breakdown is making life more expensive

The cost of living crisis isn't going away, because climate breakdown isn't going away.

For months now, politicians have been reassuring us that the worst of the cost of living crisis is over. Governments have promised strained populations that inflation is falling, even if there are occasional blips driven by unpredictable variables, like war, extreme weather, or supply chain bottlenecks.

But if you asked the average person, they’d likely tell you that the cost of living crisis is still very much here. Food remains painfully expensive. Housing costs remain extremely high. And with interest rates still at their highest level in more than a decade, debt burdens are crushing household budgets.

What accounts for the disparity between the message we’re receiving from those at the top, and the lived experience most people have of the economy?

The issue is that the allegedly random variables driving inflation today are very far from random. Factors like war, extreme weather events, and supply chain bottlenecks are all being exacerbated by climate breakdown – and all of them drive higher inflation over the long run.

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