The climate crisis is a cost-of-living issue for Australia. My generation will be the first to pay for it

Politicians have divorced the issue of global heating from soaring prices – Australians must take bold action at the ballot box

I love chocolate. It’s a staple of my diet. I don’t like that, at the best of times, it takes up maybe a fifth of my grocery budget.

I also don’t like that as a country, we’ve been all too quick to blame rising food prices on inflation. We’ve quickly made inflation a priority for our policymakers, while the cost of living is the key issue of the upcoming election.

Now, before you write me off as a naive 20-year-old who’s never paid a bill in her life – I’m not.

The cost-of-living crisis is hitting my generation too. We all know inflation has a lot to do with it, but inflation isn’t the only factor driving this surge – the climate crisis continues to fuel cost-of-living pressures and push up prices.

Take my chocolate for example. Cacao plants can’t yield cacao beans which make chocolate in temperatures above 32C. Analysis by independent research group Climate Central examined regions where cacao beans are harvested and found that in the last decade, most experienced on average an extra six weeks a year where the temperatures in these regions were above this limit. Excessive heat, caused by global heating, reduces the quantity of beans harvested and drives up chocolate prices.

Politicians have divorced the climate crisis from the issue of cost of living, allowing their often dismal records on climate and environment to escape scrutiny. This benefits no one but the major parties, as they talk about the cost of fuel, food and electricity one moment, and approve a fossil fuel extension which will drive up these very costs the next.

As a country, we cannot be complacent when climate collapse is so clearly a cost-of-living issue.

Coffee is another household staple that can only grow in specific and is extremely sensitive to changes in weather conditions. The price of coffee is increasing steadily as the planet heats. Rising temperatures and unpredictable rainfall have the potential to wipe out entire crops.

Global heating is also driving up the prices of orange juice by damaging crops in the biggest orange-producing regions. Droughts and heatwaves have reduced the production of olive oil in countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece.

All this to say that the climate crisis isn’t just on our screens in the form of raging bushfires and devastating floods, it’s hitting our hip pockets right now. It’s the reason more of us than ever have to say no to the things we love, or find cheaper alternatives.

It’s also worsening an already volatile rental market. As insurance premiums rise and insurance companies refuse to cover at-risk properties; as people move out of areas prone to climate-driven disasters; as every rental inspection has lines snaking around the block; prices are surging.

As we head towards the federal election, we must broaden our understanding of the cost-of-living issue. We must be informed voters with a clear sense of the issues that will determine how we will cast our ballots.

If we don’t, we risk a deepening crisis.

Living expenses will continue to skyrocket. Politicians will continue pointing fingers at each other across parliament’s chambers, then head back to their offices to sign off on yet another coalmine expansion that will only worsen the myriad of intergenerational crises we face. And we won’t have the political literacy to hold them accountable.

My generation, and the generations to come, will be hit the worst.

We owe it to ourselves to know the full picture and to ensure that when we vote in a few months we cast our ballot with climate action – and our future – in mind.

Cover photo:  ‘The climate crisis isn’t just on our screens in the form of raging bushfires and devastating floods countries away, it’s hitting our hip pockets right now.’ Image shows flood damage in Coalcliff, Sydney April 2024. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP