In the Mistra Geopolitics film “Climate risks to global food trade” lead author Kevin M. Adams summarize key insights on trade, climate change and food security from the report “Climate change, trade, and global food security – A global assessment of transboundary climate risks in agricultural commodity flows.”
The film is a summary of the key messages in the groundbreaking report by authors from Mistra Geopolitics and SEI that reveals climate risks to global food trade in major agricultural commodities and concludes that they constitute a serious global challenge.
The authors call for urgent multilateral action.
Watch the Mistra Geopolitics film “Climate risks to global food trade”
Kevin M. Adams, climate policy researcher at the London School of Economics, Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State and former researcher in Mistra Geopolitics said:
Because countries trade, we are fundamentally exposed to climate risks that occur in other places around the globe.
When we think about how climate risks can be addressed, we often think about it in an isolated way and we don’t think about how countries, companies and communities can and should work together to address those risks as one unit.
Global yield reduction due to climate change
From a country perspective, it matters what you diet is and what food you are eating. It also matters what your countries import and export profile looks like. Are you growing enough food on your own, or are you import dependent on other countries? The figure below shows the global yield reduction resulting from climate change across five of the six commodities studied.

Kevin Adams concluded:
To manage global climate risks for agricultural commodities effectively we need to identify the risks, increase multilateral collaboration and find ways to manage these risks effectively.
Mistra Geopolitics team
Featured in the film: Kevin M. Adams. Interview and script by Ylva Rylander and Maria Cole at SEI and Mistra Geopolitics. Production by Johan Söderlund.

Kevin Adams

Ylva Rylander

Maria Cole
The film is produced by the Mistra Geopolitics research programme, led by Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and funded by Mistra, the Swedish foundation for strategic environmental research.