We are heading towards a perfect storm.
Over 2026-27, intersecting events — driven by climate warming and fossil-fuel energy disruption — of extreme heat, intense bushfires, widespread drought, reduced crop yields, and food inflation will have complex, adverse impacts on Australia and the Asian region.
There will be particularly devastating consequences for people in developing economies who lack the economic capacity to prepare and adapt, compared to the developed world. Neither the Australian Parliament nor the population have been well-informed about what is coming.
The proximate causes of this crisis are reduced supply and higher prices for fertiliser, driven by the war on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and a potentially record-breaking El Niño over 2026-27 that will produce unprecedented global temperatures well above 1.5°C, and reduce crop yields in Australia and elsewhere.
