Climate change could mean beer rises to £10 a pint, experts warn
Even climate change sceptics might pause for thought after scientists revealed another terrifying danger from our warming world – beer going up to £10 a pint.
Droughts and heatwaves could impact the world’s barley supply, experts have warned – with serious knock-on effects on the price of beer.
It’ll be even worse in Ireland, with the price of a six pack shooting up £15.
In the UK, there’s a risk of prices in London hitting £10 a pint, and £7.60 across the rest of the country.
Droughts and heat waves were expected to cause barley declines of up to 17% in parts of the US, Europe, Australia and Asia where the grain is grown most.
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Research co-author Dr Steven Davis, from the University of California at Irvine, US, said: ‘The world is facing many life-threatening impacts of climate change, so people having to spend a bit more to drink beer may seem trivial by comparison.
‘But there is definitely a cross-cultural appeal to beer, and not having a cool pint at the end of an increasingly common hot day just adds insult to injury.’
Only 17% of the barley produced in the world is used in brewing, the authors point out. Most is harvested as feed for livestock.
The researchers predicted that hungry animals would be first in the queue for available barley, ahead of thirsty humans.
Barley growing regions including the northern Great Plains of the US, the Canadian prairies, Europe, Australia, and the Asian steppe were all likely to experience more frequent droughts in years to come as a result of global warming, the study in the journal Nature Plants reported.
Beer prices were predicted to rise most in wealthy beer-loving countries such as Belgium, Canada, Denmark and Poland.
