Coffee could
become extinct if global warming continues on its current trajectory. By 2050,
the amount of suitable coffee farmland is expected to have halved due to rising
temperatures, pests and fungi. Wild coffee is expected to be wiped from the
face of the planet by the year 2080. The disappearance of the coffee plant
would have a profound impact on the 120 million people worldwide whose
livelihoods depend on its beans. Coffee-drinkers are also expected to see flavor
and aroma seriously impacted – alongside soaring prices for the ever-scarcer
beans. Looking ahead, it is hard to see how consumer prices cannot be anything
but badly affected by the projected long term decline in growing are and other
impacts of a more hostile climate.
More and more extreme weather
events in major coffee producing regions seem set to create supply shortages,
and hotter conditions will impair flavor and aroma. Even instant coffee is
likely to be hit hard in a world of 3°C or more. This research is not the
first to warn about the bleak future of the coffee bean. According to a recent
report by 80 scientists, coffee is at risk of running out by the end of the
century, due to climate change and intensive farming. We have a cloud hovering over
our head. It’s dramatically serious. Climate change can have a significant
adverse effect in the short term. It’s no longer about the future, it’s the
present.

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