Whatever combination of climate solutions the world decides to implement, a new analysis in Environmental Science & Technology reminds us that all policies bear costs and unintended consequences. In the case of greenhouse gas reductions, the unintended consequence may be an increased risk of global hunger.

While it is true that climate change itself in the long run will likely lower crop yields (and hence increase the risk of hunger), ironically the very act of responding to climate change could also increase the risk of hunger. The authors demonstrated this by combining a crop model with an economic model that predicted how climate change and climate policy conspire to affect factors such as crop yields and the cost of food, energy, and land. Using these outputs, the authors were able to compare the risk of hunger in two different scenarios: (1) The Business as Usual (BaU) scenario, in which no climate policy is enacted, and (2) Stringent Mitigation, in which drastic measures are implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.