Climate Change could kill your beer garden

-Source-Quartz- As the planet warms one place you can still seek solace is a nice cold beer. But maybe not for long. Or at least not for as cheap. A study published today (Oct. 15) in the academic journal Nature Plants warns that you may pay much more for that brew during severe droughts brought on by climate change in the near future. Barley beers main ingredient is particularly sensitive to extreme weather. And climate models predict that extreme heat and drought events will become more common depending on how quickly humans curb their greenhouse gas emissions. A team of researchers led by Peking Universitys Wei Xie modeled the impact that barley-supply shocks in four different climate scenarios would have on the price of beer in some of the worlds most notoriously beer-guzzling countries. In their best case scenario greenhouse-gas emissions peak by 2020 and average global land temperatures rise less than 3°C over preindustrial levels by the end of the century. In the two more likely scenarios emissions peak in 2040 or 2080 and temperatures rise 4°C-5°C by 2100. In the worst case emissions continue to rise throughout the 21st century and temperatures increase by more than 5°C by the centurys end. The study found that globally beer prices are likely to rise by 15 during extreme droughts in the best case and 100 in the worst case. But their findings vary widely by country. Ireland for example is predicted to be one of the most affected countries; there beer prices could rise by nearly 300 under the worst conditions.