Climate Risks to Trade and Food Security: Implications for Policy

The document highlights the critical and unrecognized nature of transboundary climate risks to the trade of maize, rice, wheat, soy, sugar cane, and coffee. It asserts that traditional risk management strategies like diversification are insufficient against accelerating climate impacts and warns of potential geopolitical tensions as producers struggle to maintain market shares. The authors call for a global systemic view and increased international coordination to implement fair adaptation, particularly to protect low-income, import-dependent countries.

• Transboundary climate risks to global food security are increasing and have been largely ignored by the global community, affecting the trade of maize, rice, wheat, soy, sugar cane, and coffee.
• Standard trade risk management methods, including diversification and substitution, are expected to fail because climate change impacts are accelerating simultaneously across the globe.
• Climate vulnerabilities may lead to heightened geopolitical tensions as major agricultural producers attempt to protect their market shares, necessitating a multilateral rather than nationalistic response to avoid undermining global resilience.
• Low-income countries that depend on imports are especially vulnerable to food security risks, making the alignment of public and private adaptation strategies a matter of public policy to ensure a just transition.

APA

K.M., A., M., B., S., C., & S., S. (2021). Climate Risks to Trade and Food Security: Implications for Policy. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/publications/climate-risks-trade-food-security-implications-policy

Chicago

K.M., Adams,, Benzie, M., Croft, S., and Sadowski, S. Climate Risks to Trade and Food Security: Implications for Policy. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2021. https://www.sei.org/publications/climate-risks-trade-food-security-implications-policy.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=K.M. |first1=Adams, |last2=M. |first2=Benzie, |last3=S. |first3=Croft, |last4=S. |first4=Sadowski, |title=Climate Risks to Trade and Food Security: Implications for Policy |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=28 October 2021 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/climate-risks-trade-food-security-implications-policy |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{km2021climate, author = {K.M., Adams, and M., Benzie, and S., Croft, and S., Sadowski,}, title = {{Climate Risks to Trade and Food Security: Implications for Policy}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/climate-risks-trade-food-security-implications-policy}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }