Climate change added an average of 30 extra days of harmful heat annually to India’s coffee-growing regions between 2021 and 2025, according to new data from Climate Central, an independent group of scientists and communicators who research and report on climate change and its impacts.

India recorded about 118 days per year (between 2021 and 2025) above 30 degrees celsius, the temperature threshold beyond which the heat harms the coffee plants. Roughly 30 of those days were driven by climate change, the analysis shows.

It arrived at this by modelling the number of days each year that would have recorded maximum temperatures below 30 degrees celsius in a world without carbon pollution but were pushed over the threshold due to carbon pollution, representing the coffee-harming days attributable to climate change.

India accounts for 3.5% of global coffee production. State-level data highlights the impacts in key coffee regions of the country. Kerala experienced an annual average of 65 additional extreme-heat days linked to climate change. Tamil Nadu saw 43 extra days each year, while Karnataka, India’s largest coffee-producing state, recorded 32 additional harmful-heat days annually. Parts of the northeast also showed rising heat stress, with Tripura recording 47 extra days and Telangana 44.

Temperatures above 30 degrees celsius reduce yields, affect bean quality...

Read more