Climate crisis contributing to the collapse of the chocolate market finds research | Climate crisis

The climate crisis ran weeks with high temperatures in the West African region, which was responsible for approx. 70% of global cocoa production, hit harvest and probably causing additional record chocolate prices, scientists have said.

Farmers in the region have struggled with heat, illness and unusual rainfall in recent years, which has contributed to falling production.

The fall has resulted in an increase in the price of cocoa produced from the beans of the cocoa tree and is the most important ingredient in chocolate.

A new report found that “climate change, primarily due to burning oil, coal and methane gas, causes warmer temperatures to become more frequent” in places such as Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria.

The study of the independent research group Climate centralFound that the trend was especially marked in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, the two largest cocoa producers.

Using data from 44 cocoa -producing areas of West Africa and computer models, researchers compared the temperatures of the day with a counterfactual of a world not affected by global warming.

The researchers looked at the likelihood of these regions facing temperatures above 32C (89.6 F) – over levels considered optimal for cocoa trees.

The report calculated that in the last decade, global warming had added another three weeks of temperatures above 32C in the Ivory Coast and Ghana in the biggest growing season between October and March.

Last year, the hottest year globally on the record, they found that global warming was running temperatures above 32C in at least 42 days across two -thirds of the analyzed areas.

Researchers said “excessive heat can contribute to a reduction in the amount and quality of the harvest”.

Many other factors potentially injured cocoa trees and increased prices, they noticed, including Mealybug -attacks, rainfall patterns, smuggling and illegal mining.

Christian Aid published separate research this week about the vulnerability of chocolate and cocoa farmers for weather changes driven by global warming.

The British charity said the conditions in West Africa had changed dramatically due to extreme rain and spoiled crops in the dry season of 2023 and the drought in 2024.

“Growing cocoa is an important livelihood for many of the poorest people around the world, and man -made climate change puts it under serious threat,” said Osai Ojigho, director of Christian Aid’s policy and public campaigns.

Failed harvest had helped to create a significant increase in cocoa prices since the end of 2023 in the London and the New York markets where the item is traded.

The New York cocoa prices were more than $ 10,000 per day. Tonnes Wednesday, under a peak of more than $ 12,500 in mid -December. The prices of New York have largely hovered between $ 2,000 and $ 3,000 per day. Tons for decades.

In January, Swiss chocolate producer Lindt & Sprüngli said it would raise prices again this year to equalize rising cocoa costs.

Narcisa Pricope, a professor at Mississippi State University, said the crop was facing an “existential threat” largely due to increasingly dry conditions in cocoa -producing regions.

Pricope was part of the recent research from the United Nations Convention to Fighting Desertation, which found more than Three -quarters of Earth’s land mass had become drier in the last 30 years.

The emissions of greenhouse gases were the biggest cause of this aridity, she said, but practices that deteriorated soil and nature also played an important role.

“Collective action against aridity is not just about saving chocolate – it’s about preserving the planet’s capacity to maintain life,” she said.