Human-caused climate change has fuelled extreme weather events in West Africa, triggering cocoa production to plummet.
A “dramatic surge” in the price of chocolate has been attributed to human-caused climate change, creating what experts have dubbed ‘Easter Eggflation’.
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New analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) found the average cost of popular Easter chocolates in the UK has risen by two-thirds in just three years, with some eggs more than doubling in price.
The data, which tracked the average pre-promotion price of major brands across British supermarkets between January and March, found that Galaxy Easter eggs have witnessed the steepest price increase, spiking by 105 per cent per 100g since 2023.
Cadbury Creme Eggs have also become 81 per cent more expensive, while a 200g Lindt Gold Bunny is now 77 per cent pricier, costing a staggering £8.42 (around €9.72).
In 2025, chocolate prices rose by 18 per cent across the EU, marking the highest increase of any food item. Overall consumer prices rose by 2.5 per cent in the EU too, based on the annual average rate of change.
How climate change is impacting the chocolate industry
Experts have blamed the ‘Easter Eggflation’ on the soaring cost of cocoa, which has been sent spiralling by global warming.
The majority of cocoa (around 60 per cent) comes from West Africa, produced in humid countries such as Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, where warm temperatures and ample rainfall alternate with short dry seasons.
However, rising temperatures have fuelled the severity and frequency of extreme weather events, causing cocoa production to plummet by as much as 40 per cent in the last three years.
In 2023, extreme rainfall in West Africa triggered an outbreak of black pod disease, which caused many cocoa plants to rot away. This was followed by a contrasting drought in early 2024, worsened by climate change and El Niño, and an extreme heatwave which impacted the sowing, growing and harvesting of cocoa crops.
Some experts have warned that the world may be cocoa-free by 2050, if heat-trapping gases continue to bake the planet. Illegal gold mining, ageing trees, and even cocoa smugglers are also impacting surging prices.
‘A direct consequence’ of global warming
Chris Jaccarini, a food and farming analyst at the ECIU warns that the surge in pricing is a “clear reminder” that the climate crisis is no longer a distant problem, but a present-day reality.
“The extreme weather that has devastated cocoa harvests in West Africa and sent prices soaring is a direct consequence of our warming planet,” he says.
“While commodity cocoa prices may be easing and people’s attention has moved on to the conflict in Iran and the Gulf region, inaction on climate change has added hundreds of euros to shopping bills in recent years – with chocolate just one of many foods impacted.”
Jaccarini argues that this egg-flation is a “stark warning” of things to come if the world fails to bring emissions down to net zero and secure our supply chains.
Is Europe to blame for rising chocolate prices?
Scientists have already started experimenting with carob, a climate-resilient plant grown in the Mediterranean that can thrive in hot, arid climates with very little water requirements.
However, this does little to address the root of the problem: developing countries are continuing to bear the brunt of climate change.
At the UN COP29 climate summit in 2024, almost 200 nations agreed to triple finance to developing countries to $300 billion (around €254.5bn) annually by 2035.
A year later at COP30, developing countries called for more support to adapt to climate change – highlighting how infrastructure such as flood defences and drought-resistant water systems can transform lives.
However, nations only agreed to at least triple adaptation finance by 2035, effectively reiterating previous commitments without agreeing on further progress.
At the same time, Germany announced it was slashing its budget for helping developing nations cut their greenhouse gas emissions, from €6 billion to €4.58 billion.
In 2025, several key Western European countries including Switzerland, France and the Netherlands, revealed they were also slashing their aid budgets considerably to focus on their own needs, such as increasing defence spending.
This month, the UK was slammed for plans to cut climate aid by about 14 per cent to roughly £2 billion (around €2.31 billion) a year – despite warnings that such a move would put national security and lives overseas at risk.