Impact of climate change on coffee
Coffee grows in intertropical regions, with the right climatic conditions, namely high humidity and temperatures between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius. But due to global warming and rising temperatures, research models suggest that 50% of current arabica zones could become unsuitable by 2050 – either directly due to heat and moisture loss, or indirectly through an increase in pests and diseases associated with climatic variations.
At the farm level, a decline in coffee quality and yield puts added pressure on the most vulnerable who make up a significant proportion of the estimated 25 million smallholder farmers who cultivate coffee around the world. These risks, and the need to adapt and mitigate further change, are now much better understood within the coffee fraternity. Many stakeholders are exploring solutions to tackle climate change, both by helping farmers build resilience and by reducing the contribution of coffee growing to global warming.
Regenerative Agriculture
Training farmers in climate-smart practices, such as shading, mulching or cover cropping, helps to conserve soil moisture and retain crop residues for soil fertility, while creating additional income for farmers.
From adaptation to mitigation
Mulching, tree crops and cover crops also allow more carbon sequestration above and below ground. But improvements in wastewater management (used in coffee processing), the optimization of fertiliser applications and improvements in logistics can also significantly reduce the overall carbon emissions of the coffee supply chain.
Time to act
With multiple brands making ambitious pledges to reduce carbon emissions in the near future, the time is right for all companies to measure their supply chain's carbon footprint and take action to reduce emissions. In the case of coffee traders this means working at farm level with suppliers, as well as improving the efficiency of internal operations. Extensive opportunities to collaborate on emissions reduction projects exist already and it is important to supply chain data in order to understand how best to act.
Responsibility starts at home
To tackle climate change, coffee traders have to address not only their responsibilities as supply chain partners but also as individual actors. Wherever possible, they should reduce waste emissions and energy consumption in our operations. To reduce energy consumption, coffee mills could for example commission solar energy installations.
Beyers Koffie is one of the largest private label coffee roasters in Europe. As part of the Sucafina group, the Company has been completely offsetting CO2 emissions from its roasting activities for several years now, and has voluntarily been opting for carbon-neutral coffee since 2015.
