Broken links
Firms worked hard to make their supply chains greener. The more urgent threat is the weather now breaking them, and few have a plan for it. Nearly nine in ten (87 per cent) of pharmaceutical companies across the G7 expect climate-related disruption to their medicines supply chains to increase in the years ahead, according to […] Broken links was originally published on Emerging Europe .
Supply chains for essential goods like medicine, food, and coffee are increasingly threatened by the impacts of climate change, according to research from the British Standards Institution. Nearly 87% of pharmaceutical companies in the G7 expect supply chain disruptions to worsen due to climate change in the coming years. Climate events such as droughts, floods, and heatwaves disrupt transport, cold storage, and inventory planning, making reliability a critical adaptation challenge.
Europe experienced a hot summer and drought, making parts of the Rhine river all but unpassable for barges carrying raw materials. Extreme heat has also disrupted fashion supply chains, while the UN Food and Agriculture Programme estimates that 14% of the world's food is lost due to climate-induced problems between the post-harvest and retail stages. The World Economic Forum ranks extreme weather as the greatest long-term threat to the planet.
DP World, a logistics firm, notes that extreme weather is no longer just seasonal, but a structural issue. The Panama Canal also faced challenges, with Gatún Lake, the rain-fed reservoir, experiencing drought that forced the canal to cut daily crossings by 29% in 2024. The lack of climate risk analysis in many organizations is concerning, with over a quarter having experienced weather-related disruptions to supply chains in the past year.
Industries like candy-making and pharmaceuticals are particularly vulnerable. Barry Callebaut, the world's largest chocolate maker, warned of profit cuts due to a cocoa supply shortage, while Baxter International faced a halt in production after Hurricane Helene flooded its North Carolina plant, leading to a shortage of intravenous fluids. These examples highlight the urgent need for businesses to adapt and increase resilience against climate-related supply chain risks.
Written by urgent.news from Emerging Europe's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
