Climate Change and Coffee: New TechnoServe Study Maps Risks, Challenges, and Paths to Resilience
The new report, backed by UNIDO and leading coffee companies, highlights where farmers are most vulnerable to climate change and identifies opportunities to strengthen the sector’s future.
VIENNA, AUSTRIA (4 June, 2026) – Timely investment can make a critical difference in the livelihoods of millions of small-scale coffee farmers and the future of the sector. That is the key takeaway from a new report published today by international nonprofit TechnoServe and UNIDO’s ACT Coffee Programme, which applies a climate-risk lens to one of the world’s most important cash crops.
A Sector under Pressure
Coffee sustains the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers across four continents. But the conditions that make coffee possible — the right temperatures, reliable rainfall, fertile soils — are shifting in ways that cannot be ignored.
Benchmarking Coffee Production and Climate Risk, published today by TechnoServe and UNIDO’s ACT Coffee Programme, examines ten of the world’s most important coffee-producing countries and finds that all of them face growing exposure to climate stress.
Drawing on a range of existing data sources, the report paints a picture that varies significantly by region. Producers in Latin America and Indonesia are on the front line, contending with rising heat and unpredictable water availability. East African origins — Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania — are less exposed to the worst climate projections, but their farmers tend to work very small plots with limited resources, making even modest shocks difficult to absorb.
“The report reflects what TechnoServe teams around the world see every day: climate change is already affecting the productivity and livelihoods of smallholder coffee farmers, yet many lack the tools they need to respond.”
– Paul Stewart, Global Coffee Director, TechnoServe, and one of the report’s lead authors
Helping Farmers Adapt
The report is clear that adaptation is possible and that the returns on investment are strong. What it calls for is a coordinated approach: getting knowledge and skills to farmers on the ground, ensuring they have access to the finance they need to make changes, and fixing the broader gaps in infrastructure, policy, and market access that hold the sector back.
“Climate adaptation in coffee is not a distant challenge: it is already urgent. This report gives the whole sector — farmers, companies, and governments — a shared foundation to invest smarter and act faster.”
– Andrea De Marco, Programme Manager and Partnership Advisor, UNIDO
Crucially, the analysis shows that making coffee farming more productive and more profitable is itself one of the most powerful buffers against climate risk. Resilience and economic sustainability go hand in hand.
Industry Unites behind the Findings
What makes this report stronger is the breadth of private sector support behind it. ECOM, illy, JDE Peet’s, Lavazza, Louis Dreyfus Company, Nestlé, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, Strauss Coffee, Sucafina, Tchibo, UCC, Caffè Borbone and Volcafe all support its findings, providing a clear signal that across the industry, from grower to roaster to trader, there is growing alignment around the need to act.
Webinar to Share the Findings
On 16 June, TechnoServe and UNIDO will host a webinar to share key insights from the study. It will take place at 9 am EDT, 2 pm BST, 3 pm CEST. To register, click here.
Read the full report at: https://www.technoserve.org/resources/benchmarking-coffee-production-and-climate-risk/
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About TechnoServe
Founded in 1968, TechnoServe is a leader in harnessing the power of the private sector to help people lift themselves out of poverty for good. A non-profit organization working in 30 countries, we work with people to build a better future through regenerative farms, businesses, and markets that increase incomes. Our vision is a sustainable world where all people in low-income communities have the opportunity to prosper.
About UNIDO
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the UN’s specialized agency that promotes inclusive and sustainable industrial development. UNIDO supports sustainable supply chains, combats climate breakdown through renewable energy and efficiency, and strengthens agribusinesses to end hunger. Its work creates new jobs and drives economic transformation while advancing technology transfer, digitalization, investment promotion, skills development, the circular economy, and women’s economic empowerment.
For more information: www.unido.org
About the ACT Coffee Programme
The ACT Programme (Advancing Climate Resilience and Transformation in African Coffee) is a strategic initiative implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and funded by the Italian Cooperation within the framework of Italy’s Mattei Plan and the EU Global Gateway Strategy with an additional contribution from the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Programme aims to strengthen climate resilience, promote sustainable industrial development, and enhance local value creation along coffee value chains in Eastern Africa, while improving the socio-economic conditions of coffee-producing communities. It addresses structural vulnerabilities in the sector through an integrated approach combining climate adaptation, regulatory compliance, innovation, inclusion, and access to finance.
The Programme is currently active in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Malawi, with the potential to expand to other coffee-producing countries across Africa.
Media Contact
Valentina Tagliamacco | Communications Lead, UNIDO
Email: v.tagliamacco@unido.org
Nick Rosen | Program Communications Manager, TechnoServe
Email: nrosen@tns.org