Warning that coffee could disappear from shelves by 2050 due to climate change 

Fairtrade Ireland said coffee beans, cocoa and other foods grown in hotter climates could become rare and expensive treats within the next 30 years due to extreme weather events.

Coffee could disappear from Irish shelves by 2050 due to climate change, a leading charity has warned.

Fairtrade Ireland said coffee beans, cocoa and other foods grown in hotter climates could become rare and expensive treats within the next 30 years due to extreme weather events.

Coffee bean farmers are already experiencing serious challenges and it is estimated that by 2050, up to half of the world’s land currently used to farm coffee may be unusable due to floods, droughts and increased temperatures.

Fairtrade Ireland executive director Peter Gaynor said: "We could be looking at the end of the much-loved cup of coffee.

“Farmers who grow coffee beans are experiencing serious challenges due to many extreme weather events, such as in Kenya, East Africa, which is right now experiencing its worst drought on-record.

“A worrying 93% of the Fairtrade coffee farmers in Kenya surveyed are already experiencing the effects of climate change.

Mr Gaynor added that the coffee fungus La Roya, also known as coffee rust, is another threat. The disease impacts the coffee plant and can destroy production. 

"Between 2012 and 2017, it caused more than $3bn in damage and lost profits and forced almost 2m farmers off their land.

We Irish are very fond of our tea, and bananas and increasingly of our coffee. But the question now is what’s going to happen to our food given the increasing impact of climate change on the 500m small farmers who grow most of the world’s food?”

The charity broke the news at the launch of its annual Fairtrade Fortnight event on Tuesday at Dublin’s Mansion House.

Fairtrade has also launched a new mural on the wall of Busy Feet & Coco Café on William Street in Dublin, which was the first Irish coffee shop to sell Fairtrade coffee.

Jose Daniel Aguilar, coffee producer from Honduras, and street artist Shane Sutton at a new mural in Dublin to highlight the risks to our food due to climate change. Picture: Karen Morgan

The mural, by artist Shane Sutton, shows an astronaut holding a banana next to empty shelves with the words: “The future of food. By 2050, coffee, chocolate and bananas may disappear.” 

Mr Gaynor said ethically sourced coffee remains incredibly popular in Ireland and thanked the public for choosing products with the Fairtrade label.

He said: “We are delighted that Fairtrade coffee sales are ahead of where they were in 2019 after a 30% reduction in sales due to the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021."

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB