More than 10 million hectares worldwide are dedicated to the cultivation of coffee and many of its 125 million farmers now struggle against the increasing challenges that seem to stem from climate change.

The effects of climate change are clearly being felt both by people in the 40+ coffee producing countries that sit within the coffee belt as well as those countries outside of it, with leading experts attributing its acceleration to increased levels of CO2.

60% of the land currently used to grow coffee beans in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, will be unsuitable for production within the next 50 years, owing to global warming and decreasing rainfall. Coffee farmers here and elsewhere are clambering to move their plantations to higher ground.

Industry pressure and our thirst for more has resulted in greater use of fertilisers and pesticides in the cultivation of coffee. Increased fossil fuel usage, burning of biomass, electricity and gas emitted from the decomposition of organic matter found within wastewater generated from wet milling also contributes to coffee's high carbon footprint.