We’ve been led to believe that robusta coffee is more climate-resilient than arabica, but a recent study calls the claim an “internet myth.”
BY EMILY JOY MENESES
ONLINE EDITOR
Featured photo by Oliver Guhr
What to know:
- As global warming poses a risk to worldwide coffee production, Coffeea canephora (robusta coffee) has been presented as an industry-wide answer to climate change, because of the plant’s ability to withstand higher temperatures than arabica
- A recent study found that while robusta coffee is more tolerant of high temperatures, it is not drought-resistant; large-scale robusta production often requires extensive irrigation and synthetic fertilizer using, causing more environmental harm than previously believed
- The study’s authors argue that the industry must not think of robusta as a catch-all solution to climate change but rather address the root causes of the issue
Conversations in the specialty-coffee industry no longer revolve simply around brewing times, tasting notes, and types of roasts; these days, they’re bringing into question whether the industry has a viable future at all.
It’s no secret that climate change is a threat to coffee production. Temperatures above 30°C (86°F) are harmful to most coffee plants, and longer, more intense heatwaves in origin countries over the past decade have led to fluctuating harvests from year to year.
As a result, Coffea canephora, or robusta coffee—long treated as arabica’s overlooked sibling—has recently begun garnering attention as the industry’s proposed answer to climate change, becoming more coveted because of its ability to withstand higher temperatures. However, new research reveals that the issue may not be so simple: A recent study published in the journal Sustainable Development has deemed the belief that robusta is a more climate-resilient species to be an “internet myth.”
“I found it troubling that people weren’t interpreting the science correctly and that they were advocating robusta as the savior of the coffee sector under climate change,” Dr. Aaron Davis—Senior Research Leader of Crops and Global Change at London’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the study’s lead author—told Reuters. “The global coffee supply needs major structural and systemic change if it’s to survive over the long term.”
The study—method + results
For the study, researchers Aaron P. Davis, Akshay Dashrath, and Justin Moat conducted a review of scientific literature on robusta coffee (covering studies published from 1884 to 2026) and supplemented this with their own observations from coffee-growing regions around the world. They also analyzed water availability at known locations of wild, or naturally occurring, robusta in Africa, comparing those sites with randomized locations and using statistical tests to determine whether access to groundwater and surface water helped explain where the plants naturally grow.
The review found that, while robusta coffee is more tolerant of high temperatures than arabica, it isn’t necessarily drought-resistant or “climate-proof.” The researchers found that water availability plays a much bigger role in where wild robusta naturally grows than many previous climate studies have recognized.
The study found that large-scale robusta production in places such as Brazil, India, and Vietnam often depends heavily on irrigation. “Farming robusta in areas that do not have a suitable precipitation regime or sufficient access to terrestrial water requires irrigation,” the study finds. “Where irrigation is excessive, it is likely to be detrimental to the local human population and the environment, particularly where irrigation water is extracted from underground sources.”
In addition, the study observed that robusta farming often requires ample usage of synthetic fertilizer and relatively little tree shade, further exacerbating the environmental harm caused during production.
The authors argue that making robusta more sustainable will require growing it in suitable climates, improving farming practices, and developing varieties better adapted to future climate conditions. “The sustainability of robusta farming requires: shifts to regions that have climate suitability, changes in cultivation practices, and climate-focused crop development,” observes the study. “Extensive irrigation, in combination with low tree-shade cover and high synthetic fertilizer use, are at odds with aspirations for ecosystem and biodiversity stewardship, and counter to goals for a low carbon economy.”
What this means for the industry
For those of us in the specialty-coffee industry, this study urges abandoning black-and-white thinking when it comes to robusta coffee and its role in combating climate change.
While Coffea canephora can tolerate warmer conditions and has strong potential to help ensure the long-term future of coffee production, the study’s authors argue that climate resilience depends heavily on where and how the coffee is grown. In regions with inadequate conditions for robusta production, the variety can cause more environmental harm than good.
And while this doesn’t mean the industry should abandon robusta production altogether, it does mean that we should be careful about seeing the coffee variety as a catch-all solution to climate change.
“Failure to mitigate against the root causes of climate change, of which global coffee production is a contributor, and failure to take the correct pathways for adapting coffee farming under global change, will worsen the global coffee supply crisis over the long-term,” concludes the study.
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