Grand Challenges in Central Europe: The Relationship of Food Security, Climate Change, and Energy Use

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 20; p. 5422
• Main Authors: Máté, Domicián, Rabbi, Mohammad Fazle, Novotny, Adam, Kovács, Sándor
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 16-10-2020
• Subjects: Agriculture; Alternative energy sources; Biomass; Climate change; Consumption; Economic indicators; Emissions; Energy consumption; Energy resources; Energy sources; Factor analysis; Food quality; Food security; Food supply; GDP; grand challenges; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; Gross Domestic Product; multiple factor analysis; Purchasing power parity; regional studies; renewable energy; Renewable resources; Sustainable development; Water shortages; Central Europe
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en13205422

Pursuing various sustainable development goals is posing new challenges for societies, policymakers, and researchers alike. This study implements an exploratory approach to address the complexity of food security and nuance its relationship with other grand challenges, such as energy use and climate change, in Central European countries. A multiple factor analysis (MFA) suggests that the three pillars of food security relate differently to climate change: food affordability and food accessibility positively correlate with climate change, while food quality has a negative association with temperature rise. However, if countries switched to renewable energy resources, all three pillars of food security could be achieved simultaneously. The study also underlines regional inequalities regarding grand challenges and emphasizes the need for innovative local solutions, i.e., advances in agriculture systems, educational programs, and the development of environmental technologies that consider social and economic issues.