Jess Hicks

A Super El Niño Threatens Crops, Shipping and Energy Systems

A potentially historic El Niño is unfolding in a world already 1.4°C warmer than before industrialisation, creating conditions in which a natural Pacific cycle can intensify heat, drought and flooding and carry local shocks into the global economy. Akshat Rathi says the added ocean heat can make existing extremes more severe; in Panama, reduced rainfall has already prompted cargo limits at the canal, threatening to disrupt trade flows and energy markets beyond the country.