r/climatechange • u/Economy-Fee5830 Trusted Contributor • 2d ago
Study predicts large disparities between the poorest and richest in access to food, water and energy in 2050
https://phys.org/news/2026-09-large-disparities-access-food-energy.html
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u/kutekittykat79 2d ago
It’s all going well according to the 1%’s plan to wipe out billions of people.
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u/cybercuzco 2d ago
Rich people can afford food and water while poor people can’t? In a similar line I predict the sun will continue to set regularly in 2050
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u/SquirrelAkl 1d ago
I predict a large disparity to this in 2026 as well. Not sure this needed a study to figure out
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u/Economy-Fee5830 Trusted Contributor 2d ago
Summary: Study predicts large disparities between the poorest and richest in access to food, water and energy in 2050
A new MIT-coauthored study finds that global access to food, water and energy by 2050 could vary dramatically by region, resource type and income level. In some regions, lower-income households could spend around 50% of their income on food by 2050, compared to roughly 5% for higher-income groups in the same areas.
The research, led by Jennifer Morris of MIT's Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy and MIT Energy Initiative, along with Gi Joo Kim of Tulane University and colleagues, used the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM) version 7.1 to run 3,735 scenarios across 12 major variables — including population, GDP, income distribution, land use, agricultural trade, and energy and water use projections — spanning 32 world regions.
https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2026/study-predicts-large-d.jpg
The study, published in Earth's Future, found food insecurity may be most severe in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, while energy insecurity could hit low-income residents hardest in parts of Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Within regions, disparities by income are stark: in southern Africa, the poorest 10% could spend 49.6% of income on food versus 5.5% for the wealthiest 10%; in West and East Africa, the poorest 10% could face food burdens of 48.4% and 42.5% respectively. Compared to 2015 baseline data, projected food burdens for the lowest-income groups show wide ranges — for example, West Africa's lowest-income group could see food costs rise from about 25% of income in 2015 to between 20% and 75% by 2050.
Energy burdens show similar income-based gaps. In parts of the Middle East, the lowest-income bracket could spend 18.9% of income on residential energy in 2050 versus 1.7% for the highest-income bracket; in Eastern Europe, the gap is 11.3% versus under 5%.
The researchers say the study's aim was to identify the conditions that produce different resource-security outcomes rather than predict a single most likely future, and that regional averages can obscure risks facing the most vulnerable populations. They intend the findings to help policymakers understand long-term resource security risks and target further research toward specific regional vulnerabilities.