“We’re losing 120 calories per person, per day, for every degree of global warming.” That stark data point from a 2025 Nature study signals more than a threat to food security, it points to a growing risk to global financial security.

Food system instability exposes markets to cascading shocks: inflation, trade disruption, insurance losses and sovereign credit stress. Yet these risks remain largely unaccounted for in core financial systems. Despite mounting exposure to climate-driven volatility, financial systems, from asset pricing models to fiscal and monetary policy frameworks, still treat food risk as peripheral.

This disconnect is no longer sustainable. As climate extremes intensify, the next financial crisis may not come from housing or tech, but from a climate-driven breakdown in the global food system.