Coffee regions hit by extra days of extreme heat: Scientists

PARIS - The world’s main coffee-growing regions are roasting under additional days of

climate change-driven heat

every year, threatening harvests and contributing to higher prices, researchers said on Feb 18.

An analysis found that there were 47 extra days of harmful heat per year on average in 25 countries representing nearly all global coffee production between 2021 and 2025, according to independent research group Climate Central.

Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Ethiopia and Indonesia – which supply 75 per cent of the world’s coffee – experienced on average 57 additional days of temperatures exceeding the threshold of 30 deg C.

“Climate change is coming for our coffee. Nearly every major coffee-producing country is now experiencing more days of extreme heat that can harm coffee plants, reduce yields, and affect quality,” said Dr Kristina Dahl, Climate Central’s vice-president for science.

“In time, these impacts may ripple outward from farms to consumers, right into the quality and cost of your daily brew,” Dr Dahl said in a statement.

US tariffs on imports from Brazil,

which supplies a third of coffee consumed in the United States, contributed to higher prices this past year, Climate Central said.

But extreme weather in the world’s coffee-growing regions is “at least partly to blame” for the recent surge in prices, it added.

Coffee cultivation needs optimal temperatures and rainfall to thrive.

Temperatures above 30 deg C are “extremely harmful” to arabica coffee plants and “suboptimal” for the robusta variety, Climate Central said. Those two plant species produce the majority of the global coffee supply.

For its analysis, Climate Central estimated how many days each year would have stayed below 30 deg C in a world without carbon pollution but instead exceeded that level in reality – revealing the number of hot days added by climate change.

The last three years have been the hottest on record, according to climate monitors. AFP