{"id":2836,"date":"2026-04-07T23:29:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the-coffee-ledger.local\/?p=2836"},"modified":"2026-04-07T23:29:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:29:33","slug":"climate-change-threatens-coffee-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/?p=2836","title":{"rendered":"Climate Change Threatens Coffee Production"},"content":{"rendered":"

Human-caused climate change is heating the Earth, and\u00a0a new report<\/a>\u00a0by Climate Central shows that this heat is increasing in coffee-producing regions, potentially putting future production at risk.<\/p>\n

Climate Central<\/a>, an independent group of scientists and communicators, examined data from 25 major coffee-producing countries between 2021 and 2025. They found that each country experienced an average of 47 extra days of \u201ccoffee-harming heat\u201d above 30\u00b0C (86\u00b0F). Arabica coffee grows best in a stable climate with consistent, predictable weather patterns and\u00a0an ideal temperature range<\/a>\u00a0between 18-21\u00b0C (64-70\u00b0F). Above the 30\u00b0C \u201ccoffee-harming threshold,\u201d trees begin to struggle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen temperatures rise above this threshold, coffee plants experience heat stress that can reduce yield, affect bean quality, and increase the vulnerability of plants to disease,\u201d the group wrote\u00a0in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore Days of Extreme Heat\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to<\/a>\u00a0the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Earth\u2019s surface temperature has risen by more than 1\u00b0C, since 1850, and 2024\u00a0was\u00a0the hottest year<\/a>\u00a0on record (2025\u00a0was the third-hottest<\/a>). This heating is affecting coffee: Major studies have shown that\u00a0climate change will reduce suitable<\/a>\u00a0coffee-producing land by 50% or more by 2050.<\/p>\n

For the new report, Climate Central researchers looked at temperature data from 25 countries that together account for 97% of the world\u2019s coffee production. They then compared the data to a hypothetical world without carbon pollution using the\u00a0Climate Shift Index<\/a>, a system that quantifies the influence of climate change on local temperatures around the world.<\/p>\n

The top five coffee producers \u2014 Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Ethiopia, and<\/p>\n

Indonesia \u2014 faced an average of 57 extra days of harmful heat each year. Certain countries suffered more: Brazil saw 70 extra days, while El Salvador faced 99 and Nicaragua 77. The report found that these changes would not have been possible without fossil fuel pollution.<\/p>\n

\u201cNearly every major coffee-producing country is now experiencing more days of extreme heat that can harm coffee plants,\u00a0reduce yields, and affect quality<\/a>,\u201d said Dr. Kristina Dahl, Climate Central\u2019s vice president for science, in the press release. \u201cIn time, these impacts may ripple outward from farms to consumers, right into the quality and cost of your daily brew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Impacts on Farmers and Consumers<\/strong><\/p>\n

In their report, Climate Central pointed to the\u00a0impact of climate change<\/a>\u00a0on both smallholder farmers\u2019 livelihoods and the increasing cost for consumers. A 2025 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations\u00a0found that<\/a>\u00a0the coffee price spike that began in 2024 was at least partially due to climate shocks, particularly in Vietnam and Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoffee farmers in Ethiopia<\/a>\u00a0are already seeing the impact of extreme heat,\u201d said Dejene Dadi, general manager of Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperatives Union, in Climate Central\u2019s press release. More than 4 million households in Ethiopia rely on coffee as their primary source of income, while a 2017 study found that as much as 60% of the country\u2019s coffee-growing regions could be lost by the end of the century. Some farmers are\u00a0already moving<\/a>\u00a0their production uphill in search of cooler temperatures.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoffee farming is part of our cultural heritage, and coffee trees are symbols of continuity and pride,\u201d Dadi said. \u201cEthiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and Ethiopian coffee farmers are key to safeguarding its future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Human-caused climate change is heating the Earth, and\u00a0a new report\u00a0by Climate Central shows that this heat is increasing in coffee-producing regions, potentially putting future production at risk. Climate Central, an independent group of scientists and communicators, examined data from 25 major coffee-producing countries between 2021 and 2025. They found that each country experienced an average […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,20],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[16],"class_list":{"0":"post-2836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-production-trade"},"authors":[{"term_id":16,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"kenkariukiseogmail-com","display_name":"kenkariukiseo@gmail.com","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/69e638078deba46def9fc559a96d133ca84df74de91eb220035f88ce8c8797c3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2836"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2838,"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2836\/revisions\/2838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2836"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoffeeledger.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=2836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}