By Nick Hedley
Extreme weather events directly linked to climate change are
already driving food prices higher, BT Pension Scheme’s chair and CEO say in
the fund’s annual report.
“Over the past year, the physical effects of climate change
have increased, with record temperatures being felt this summer and record low
rainfall even across the U.K,” chair Otto Thoresen and CEO Morten Nilsson
wrote.
“This has impacted wheat and general crop growth which have
had a compounding and negative effect on food prices, as well as rising energy
costs.”
Thoresen and Nilsson said efforts would be needed to protect
food supply chains and to consider how climate change would impact natural and
scare resources.
The plan set a 2035 net-zero goal in October 2020.
Nilsson said in a separate note in the report that climate
change “is now a clear and present risk to the scheme meeting its long-term
financial commitments – not a future risk.”