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Food security

Fertilizing hidden hunger

Nature Climate Change volume 4, pages 540–541 (2014)Cite this article

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Atmospheric CO2 fertilization may go some way to compensating the negative impact of climatic changes on crop yields, but it comes at the expense of a deterioration of the current nutritional value of food.

A healthy meal is a complex cocktail of macro- and micro-nutrients. Yet, when it comes to discussing diets, we typically consider calories to be the central drivers of hunger and obesity, disregarding other factors. The threat that climate change poses to agricultural productivity and food security around the world, especially in the tropics and sub-tropics, is also usually analysed only in terms of yields and calories1. The primary driver of anthropogenic climate change — the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere — has long been known to stimulate photosynthesis and plant growth, an effect that has the potential to compensate much of the negative impact of climate change. This so-called CO2 fertilization increases nitrogen use efficiency, reduces water use2, and is especially relevant for stimulating photosynthesis in the large group of C3-plants, which include important crops like wheat, rice and soy. A focus on calories, however, may be greatly misleading when judging whether the effects of CO2 fertilization are beneficial for food security. In a Letter published in Nature, Myers et al.3 present compelling evidence, based on a large meta-analysis of published studies, that CO2 fertilization will have negative effects on the nutritional value of many key food crops by reducing the concentrations of essential minerals and protein. This could have serious implications for hunger and health in many parts of the world where the quality of food is just as important as its quantity.

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Figure 1: Currently, the C3-crops wheat, rice and soy provide almost 40% of the world's food calorie supply (left) as well as significant shares of iron, zinc and proteins (current levels represented as thirds of the plate area).

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Author information

Affiliations

  1. Christoph Müller and Anders Levermann are at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Telegraphenberg A31, 14473 Potsdam, Germany

    Christoph Müller & Anders Levermann

  2. Joshua Elliott is at the University of Chicago Computation Institute, 5735 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA

    Joshua Elliott

Authors
  1. Christoph Müller
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  2. Joshua Elliott
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  3. Anders Levermann
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Correspondence to Christoph Müller.

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Müller, C., Elliott, J. & Levermann, A. Fertilizing hidden hunger. Nature Clim Change 4, 540–541 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2290

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Further reading

  • Narrowing uncertainties in the effects of elevated CO2 on crops

    • Andrea Toreti
    • , Delphine Deryng
    • , Francesco N. Tubiello
    • , Christoph Müller
    • , Bruce A. Kimball
    • , Gerald Moser
    • , Kenneth Boote
    • , Senthold Asseng
    • , Thomas A. M. Pugh
    • , Eline Vanuytrecht
    • , Håkan Pleijel
    • , Heidi Webber
    • , Jean-Louis Durand
    • , Frank Dentener
    • , Andrej Ceglar
    • , Xuhui Wang
    • , Franz Badeck
    • , Remi Lecerf
    • , Gerard W. Wall
    • , Maurits van den Berg
    • , Petra Hoegy
    • , Raul Lopez-Lozano
    • , Matteo Zampieri
    • , Stefano Galmarini
    • , Garry J. O’Leary
    • , Remy Manderscheid
    • , Erik Mencos Contreras
    •  & Cynthia Rosenzweig

    Nature Food (2020)

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