Global trade is under strain due to the effects of climate change and a failure to act risks worsening food insecurity, economic instability and humanitarian crises, the UN’s senior climate official has warned.
Speaking at the 2025 Nature Summit in Panama City on Tuesday, Simon Stiell used the Panama Canal as a potent example of how climate change has affected trade.
Once a symbol of global connectivity, the canal’s water levels have dropped due to prolonged droughts, disrupting shipping routes and slowing the flow of critical goods. That has created a ripple effect that extends far beyond logistics, Mr Stiell said.
“It also means critical medical supplies delayed for those in desperate need, businesses collapsing and livelihoods vanishing,” he added.
‘Antidote to uncertainty’
With droughts linked to climate change also threatening agricultural production across continents, he noted that famine is once again on the rise, driven in part by rising global temperatures.
“The same droughts that plague the canal are affecting essential commodities worldwide, reducing harvests, emptying shelves and pushing families into hunger,” he said. “Famine is back and the role of global heating cannot be ignored.”
But Mr Stiell believes there is hope amid the disruption, with clean energy projects accelerating. He said investors were poised to unlock billions of dollars, if governments introduce “clear and strong” climate policies, which are an “antidote to economic uncertainty”.
He added that the next generation of national climate action plans – known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – must be about growth as much as emissions cuts.
“if done right, these plans can attract a bonanza of benefits,” he said. “More jobs, more revenue and a virtuous cycle of increased investment.”
Stronger plans needed
He referred to examples of leadership from around the world, including Brazil, host of the Cop30 climate change talks this year, as well as Germany, which has committed billions of dollars to green infrastructure. China has also established a new, economy-wide climate target.
Mr Stiell urged countries to avoid “zero-sum thinking” in the race to lead the $2 trillion clean energy market, warning against a “two-speed transition” that could leave vulnerable nations behind.
“In these uncertain times, more and more ships passing through the canal are transporting the building blocks of a global, clean energy economy,” he said. “The work ahead is to make sure their numbers keep growing, and their contents reach every country on Earth.”
