One More Reason To Fight Climate Change: Beer To Become Scarce And More Expensive

Beer, one of the most popular alcoholic beverage is under threat due to climate change, according to researchers. The main ingredient to make beer, barley is extremely sensitive to extreme climatic changes like droughts, making it challenging to find the right quality of barley to make a good pint of beer, as reported by CNN.

According to a study published on Monday (15 October) in the journal Nature, global warming will lead to a significant decrease in barley crop yields causing a shortage of beer and rising prices. The main aim or intention of the study is to show how climate change would impact your life.

"if you don't want that to happen, if you still want a few pints of beer then, the only way to do it is to mitigate climate change. We have to all work together to mitigate climate change”, said co-author of the study Dabo Guan.

Guan and a group of scientists who focus on climate change gathered in a bar after a series of lectures and wanted to find a way to collaborate. They examined the various scenarios resulting from the climatic conditions and its impact on barley yields and beer prices while sipping on a beer. They integrated three strategic models covering climate, crops and economics.

"Globally, only a small fraction of barley goes into making beer. Only 17 per cent of the barley [goes into] making beer. The rest of the 83 per cent is going to feed pigs and other animals, basically," Guan said, adding that only good quality barley is reserved for making beer.

Quality barley is more sensitive to climatic conditions than those of poor quality hence the increase of crops seen in countries would not necessarily help the beer industry.

The team showed an output on a socio-economic model that included beer production estimates and international trading forecasts where on an average the global barley yields decline between 3 per cent and 17 per cent depending on the climatic conditions.

The global beer consumption would decline by 16 per cent on an average while beer prices would double. In a best case scenario, the consumption rates would drop by 4 per cent while prices would leap by 15 per cent, according to the study.