The connection between inflation, climate change, and your business

Added on 14 October 2022

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The connection between inflation, climate change, and your business

Climate change may not be as much of a contributing factor to our current inflation as the pandemic’s economic shockwaves, dysfunctional supply chains, increased consumer spending, or Russia’s war with Ukraine, but it has done its share of the damage. As we know all too well, inflation drives up the cost of doing business. And in that sense, all indoor producers have a high stake in combatting climate change.

An increasing frequency and intensity of weather events has wreaked havoc on energy supplies and brought transportation routes to a screeching halt. The 2021 winter storm in Texas, for example, rendered roads impassable and triggered a shutdown of more than half of the state’s natural gas supply due to power outages. Just as severe, are the catastrophic crop losses caused by drought, wildfires, floods, tropical storms, and more. All this contributes to skyrocketing food prices, escalating input costs, and climbing fuel prices.

Indoor producers pay more to heat or cool their facilities due to extreme weather conditions. The water they use to irrigate, the energy sources they rely on, the fuel they consume, the transportation routes they navigate to deliver their goods — all are vulnerable to the worst Mother Nature has to offer. And when disruptions occur, operating costs go up.