Britain’s climate is warming faster than the global average – increasing at a rate of 0.18 degrees Celsius per decade since 1950 as compared to the 0.12 degrees Celsius global surface temperature increase. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, British wine makers have benefitted from changes in climate in recent years and wine industries in China, Russia, and Scandinavia also could benefit from the shift. According to Chris Foss of Plumpton University, the UK wine industry has the potential to expand by five to ten times as a result of climate change. Earlier this year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a study concluded that as climate change benefits the UK and other cooler regions, it will also lead to significant production loss in the world’s top wine regions. Europe is estimated to suffer up to an 85% decrease in production especially in France, Tuscany, and Italy. The study also goes on to state that between 19% and 73% of the land currently suitable for wine grape growing will no longer be suitable by 2050.
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