Coffee prices more than doubled over the last year as producers struggled in the face of extreme weather, a shift experts expect will only get worse in our warming world, reports Euro News.
Rising temperatures and above-average rainfall in the world’s coffee-producing regions sent the price of the beloved bean soaring, up 103 percent in the last 12 months. The record-setting heat of 2024 appears to be carrying into 2025, and experts warn that extreme, unpredictable weather events will only get worse as global temperatures rise, impacting food prices across the board.
“The impact of climate change on coffee production is in plain sight,” Yitna Tekaligne, Ethiopia country manager for UK charity Christian Aid, told Euro News. Growers in Ethiopia are struggling with high levels of coffee leaf rust, a fungus that can reduce production by as much as 30 to 50 percent, while those in Malawi, India, Brazil and Vietnam saw a similar loss in production from droughts and intense heat waves.
“Small-scale coffee farmers are living on the frontline of the climate crisis, despite having contributed little to the problem of global warming,” Patrick Watt, chief executive of Christian Aid, told Euro News.
[See more: Soaring temperatures drove extreme weather events in 2024, report finds]
Christian Aid has calculated that the changing climate will decrease the amount of land suitable for growing coffee by 54.5 percent, even if the global temperature rise is kept within the target set out by the Paris Agreement of below 2°C over the pre-industrial average. Some of the biggest impacts are already being seen in the world’s top coffee exporting countries, Brazil and Vietnam.
The production of coffee is itself contributing to the crisis. Growing a single kilogram of coffee can produce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 15.33 kg of carbon dioxide, according to researchers at University College London, and shifting coffee production to newly suitable areas would require new infrastructure and deforestation, releasing even more carbon into the atmosphere. Changing the way we grow, transport and consume coffee could help reduce that footprint.
As for the issue of cost, Mackson Ng’ambi, CEO of the Mzuzu Coffee Cooperative in Malawi, believes it should be passed on to consumers. “The global coffee pricing should take into consideration that farmers are making more effort to maintain a field of coffee and hence [experiencing an] increased cost of production.” If the cost is placed on growers, he warned Euro News, most growers will abandon the crop, driving prices up even further.
Christian Aid also believes that governments have a role to play, calling on the UK to boost climate finance and cancel “unjust” historic debts for developing nations. “To tackle the root causes of the problem,” Patrick argued, “the UK and other wealthy countries need to follow through on their promises and fund support for farmers in poorer countries to grow climate resilient crops and diversify their sources of income.”
