With the world economy already shackled by Covid-related shortages and now reeling from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prices of such basics as bread, meat and cooking oils have jumped across the world, sending shock waves through the commodity markets and damaging the global food system.
The U.S. Congress voted overwhelmingly Thursday to strip Russia’s normal trade status with the U.S. and ban imports of its gas, oil and coal, adding to the economic squeeze by the U.S. and its allies to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government over the invasion of Ukraine.
Congressional Democrats excoriated executives from some of the world’s biggest oil companies, accusing them of exploiting the war in Ukraine and a surge in crude prices to reap windfall profits at the expense of American motorists.
Cases are at a record in Shanghai, now the epicenter of China’s worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic, and the lockdown has been extended indefinitely.
Europe is taking a big gamble as it moves to ban Russian coal, potentially leaving itself vulnerable to shortages and rolling blackouts while the rest of the world contends with surging prices.
A measure of U.S. supply chain pressures rose to a record, adding to already stiff inflationary headwinds from logistics amid dwindling warehouse space and unprecedented inventory costs.
The new report updates previous work by the IPCC — its last work on this topic came out in 2014 — as well as assessing the potential of technology and offering evidence that climate action, done right, can improve the health and wellbeing of people around the world.
Behind-closed-doors discussions reflect a wide angst over whether to keep buying from Russia, as the industry weighs the stigma from the war against its own commercial interests — and the fact that vital metals like aluminum and copper were in short supply even before the invasion of Ukraine.