Reducing emissions is the only way to lower the risk of extreme weather events, such as those that struck the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, where coffee is grown.
The state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil, is one of the main producers of arabica coffee beans, whose price has skyrocketed in recent years due to extreme weather conditions that have reduced harvests by 15–20 per cent.
According to a report by the Guardian, an international team of researchers argues that, in order to curb the devastating floods that cause destruction and casualties across the region and to contain rising coffee prices, it is necessary to abandon fossil fuels. Global warming caused by greenhouse gases is indeed linked to the growing risk of extreme rainfall.
Over the past month, the region has been hit by rainfall and landslides that have caused deaths and forced many residents to evacuate. The city of Juiz de Fora was among the worst affected, recording its wettest February ever, with more than 750 mm of rain — three times the amount expected for that period and 65 per cent more than the previous record of 456 mm set in 1988, according to the latest study by the World Weather Attribution Group.
According to scientists' calculations, downpours in the area would predictably become 7 per cent more intense if the planet were to reach global warming of 2.6°C above pre-industrial levels. The priority, therefore, should be to phase out greenhouse gases from the use of oil, gas and coal as quickly as possible. "We must fight to ensure that record-breaking months, like the one just experienced by Juiz de Fora, do not become the norm," said Friederike Otto, professor of climate science at Imperial College London. "Science shows us that the risk of extreme weather events is increasing, and it is essential to prevent every fraction of a degree of further warming as swiftly as possible." Shelters, early warning systems and urban planning are among the other measures deemed necessary by researchers.
When harvests are damaged by extreme weather events, the result is an economic impact on coffee prices, with inflationary repercussions felt worldwide that are difficult to contain, according to researchers. Gareth Redmond-King, head of the international programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a UK-based non-profit organisation, told the Guardian that the cost of ground coffee in the United Kingdom has risen by around a quarter over the past five years due to the effects of climate on harvests in Brazil and Vietnam. And the issue is not limited to coffee, but concerns agriculture as a whole. For the expert, the net-zero target is the only solution to limiting the threat that climate change poses to food security.