Misc
Mapped: How the Energy Crisis Impacts Global Food Insecurity
Mapped: How the Energy Crisis Impacts Global Food Insecurity
Food insecurity occurs when an individual does not have access to the adequate quantity or quality of food they require to meet their biological needs.
A disruption in supply chains, rising input costs, and inadequate weather can all have a direct impact on global food security, all of which have been in play in recent years.
Using data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, let’s do a deep dive into food insecurity around the world and discuss how rising energy costs can drive up food prices, exacerbating food insecurity.
The State of Global Food Insecurity
The latest data from the FAO marks 29.3% of the entire world population to be moderately or severely food insecure, with 40% of this population experiencing severe food insecurity. Based on FAO definitions, here is what that means:
- A moderately food insecure person experiences uncertainty about their ability to obtain food, unwillingly compromising the quantity and/or the quality of food they consume
- A severely food insecure person lacks access to food, enduring prolonged periods of time without eating
The African continent bears most of the burden when it comes to global food insecurity, with 14 out of the top 15 most food-insecure countries being in this region. The data also paints a relatively grim picture for Middle Eastern and South American countries, while North America and Western Europe have moderate or severe food insecurity marked below 10%.
Country | Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity (3-year average, 2019-2021) |
---|---|
🇨🇬 Congo | 88.7% |
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone | 86.7% |
🇸🇸 South Sudan | 86.4% |
🇭🇹 Haiti | 82.5% |
🇨🇫 Central African Republic | 81.3% |
🇲🇼 Malawi | 81.3% |
🇱🇷 Liberia | 80.6% |
It’s difficult to pinpoint the prevalence of African food insecurity to just one cause. Climate change, conflict in Africa, government debt, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have all contributed in different ways to worsening food security conditions in this region.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict, for instance, led to European aid for African countries to drop substantially, while grain exports from both Ukraine and Russia fell as ports in the Black Sea experienced disruptions. The war has also caused a disruption in fertilizer supplies, with Russia being the top exporter of fertilizer, along with a substantial rise in farming input costs as energy prices soared in 2022.
How Energy Prices Trickle Down to Food Prices
Food prices have risen substantially in the last year due to surging energy prices and supply chain disruptions. The FAO food price index, which measures the change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, saw a 14.3% increase between 2021 and 2022.
Index | % change in price since 2021 |
---|---|
General Food Price Index | 14.3% |
Meat | 10.4% |
Dairy | 19.6% |
Cereals | 17.9% |
Vegetable oils | 13.9% |
Sugar | 4.7% |
As seen above, individual commodity indices followed this trend, with dairy and cereal prices bearing the brunt.
Energy costs trickle down to food prices in a variety of ways. The simple correlation between historic oil and corn prices, seen below, can paint a telling picture.
What’s interesting is that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the effects of the 2022 energy cost crisis may not have even fully materialized yet.
According to their research, a 1% increase in fertilizer prices can boost food commodity prices by 0.45% within four quarters. With natural gas, a major input for nitrogen-based fertilizer, being 150% more expensive in 2022 than in 2021, this may be a cause for concern in the upcoming months.
Relatedly, a rise in fertilizer costs is also connected to harvest levels in upcoming seasons. Reduced use of fertilizer as a result of high costs can lead to diminished crop yields, and the IMF predicts that a 1% drop in global harvests bumps food commodity prices by 8.5%, potentially indicating that the worst of it for food prices—and for global food security—is still yet to come.
Looking Ahead to 2023
Food security is a fundamental aspect of human existence and plays an important role in the steady economic growth and prosperity of nations. While we may be tempted to believe that we’re heading in the right direction on a global scale, the FAO paints a different picture, specifically for Africa.
2030 predictions for global undernourishment forecast an 11.5% increase in hunger in Africa, while world hunger at large is predicted to decrease. With global inflation looming high and food prices still under the influence of 2022 events, addressing hunger in Africa is as crucial as ever to improve the overall well-being and development of the continent.
Misc
Charted: The End-of-Life Recycling Rates of Select Metals
End-of-life recycling rates measure the percentage of a material that is recovered at the end of its useful life, rather than being disposed of or incinerated.

Charted: The End-of-Life Recycling Rates of Select Metals
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on Apple or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
We visualize the end-of-life recycling rates (EOL-RR) of commonly used metals in the economy. Data is sourced from the International Energy Agency, last updated in 2021.
Tracking recycling rates helps manage resources better and make smarter policies, guiding efforts to cut down on waste.
Ranked: The End of Life Recycling Rates of Select Metals
Gold has an 86% recycling rate according to the latest available data. Per the Boston Consulting Group, one-third of total gold supply was met through recycling between 1995–2014.
Metal | End-of-life recycling rate (2021) | 🔍 Used In |
---|---|---|
Gold | 86% | 💍 Jewelry / Electronics |
Platinum/Palladium | 60% | 🔬 Optical fibers / Dental fillings |
Nickel | 60% | 🔋 Batteries / Turbine blades |
Silver | 50% | 💍 Jewelry / Mirrors |
Copper | 46% | 🔌 Electrical wiring / Industrial equipment |
Aluminum | 42% | ✈️ Aeroplane parts / Cans |
Chromium | 34% | 🍽️ Stainless steel / Leather tanning |
Zinc | 33% | 🔗 Galvanizing metal / Making rubber |
Cobalt | 32% | 🔋 Batteries / Turbine engines |
Lithium | 0.5% | 🔋 Batteries / Pacemakers |
REEs | 0.2% | 📱 Mobile phones / Hard drives |
Note: Figures are rounded.
Several factors can influence metal recycling rates. According to this International Resource Panel report, metals that are used in large quantities (steel) or have a high value (gold) tend to have higher recycling rates.
However, for materials used in small quantities in complex products (rare earth elements in electronics), recycling becomes far more challenging.
Finally, a metal’s EOL-RR is strongly influenced by the least efficient link in the recycling chain, which is typically how it’s initially collected.
Learn More on the Voronoi App 
If you enjoyed this post, check out Critical Materials: Where China, the EU, and the U.S. Overlap which shows how critical materials are classified within different jurisdictions.
Misc
Companies with the Most Fossil Fuel and Cement CO2 Emissions
Half of the world’s total fossil fuel and cement carbon dioxide emissions in 2023 came from just 36 companies.

Companies with the Most Fossil Fuel and Cement CO2 Emissions
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Key Takeaways
- Half of the world’s fossil fuel and cement carbon dioxide emissions in 2023 came from just 36 entities, according to a report by the Carbon Majors Project
- If Saudi Aramco were a country, it would be the fourth-largest polluter in the world, after China, the U.S., and India.
- Five publicly traded oil companies—ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, TotalEnergies, and BP—together accounted for 5% of global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.
Chinese Companies Dominate the List
This graphic is based on Carbon Majors, a database of historical production data from 180 of the world’s largest oil, gas, coal, and cement producers representing 169 active and 11 inactive entities.
In 2023, the top 20 highest carbon-producing entities were responsible for 17.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO₂e) in emissions, accounting for 40.8% of global fossil fuel and cement CO₂ emissions. The list is largely dominated by state-owned companies, with 16 of the top 20 being state-controlled. Notably, eight Chinese entities contributed to 17.3% of global fossil fuel and cement CO₂ emissions in 2023.
Entity | Total emissions (MtCO2e) | Global CO2 emissions (%) |
---|---|---|
1 | Saudi Aramco | 4.4% |
2 | Coal India | 3.7% |
3 | CHN Energy | 3.7% |
4 | Jinneng Group | 2.9% |
5 | Cement industry of China | 2.8% |
6 | National Iranian Oil Company | 2.8% |
7 | Gazprom | 2.3% |
8 | Rosneft | 1.9% |
9 | Shandong Energy | 1.7% |
10 | China National Coal Group | 1.7% |
11 | Abu Dhabi National Oil Company | 1.6% |
12 | CNPC | 1.6% |
13 | Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group | 1.6% |
14 | Iraq National Oil Company | 1.3% |
15 | Shanxi Coking Coal Group | 1.3% |
16 | ExxonMobil | 1.3% |
17 | Sonatrach | 1.2% |
18 | Chevron | 1.1% |
19 | Kuwait Petroleum Corp. | 1.0% |
20 | Petrobras | 1.0% |
21 | Shell | 0.9% |
22 | Pemex | 0.9% |
23 | TotalEnergies | 0.8% |
24 | QatarEnergy | 0.8% |
25 | Lukoil | 0.8% |
26 | BP | 0.8% |
27 | Glencore | 0.7% |
28 | China Huaneng Group | 0.7% |
29 | Luan Chemical Group | 0.7% |
30 | Equinor | 0.7% |
31 | Peabody Energy | 0.7% |
32 | Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. | 0.6% |
33 | CNOOC | 0.6% |
34 | ConocoPhillips | 0.6% |
35 | Eni | 0.6% |
36 | Petronas | 0.5% |
Coal continued to be the largest source of emissions in 2023, representing 41.1% of emissions in the database and continuing a steady upward trend since 2016. Coal emissions grew by 1.9% (258 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent – MtCO₂e) from 2022, while cement saw the largest relative increase at 6.5% (82 MtCO₂e), driven by expanding production.
In contrast, natural gas emissions fell by 3.7% (164 MtCO₂e), and oil emissions remained stable with only a slight increase of 0.3% (73 MtCO₂e).
Learn More on the Voronoi App 
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic that shows greenhouse gas emissions by sector in 2023, according to data was compiled by the United Nations. The power sector remains the largest emissions contributor.
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