Commentary: Climate change leaves a bitter taste in world’s coffee supply

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Challenges TO ADD TO A CAFFEINE FIX

Climate change is reshaping the caffeine market, with far-reaching implications for both producers and consumers. Governments, international agencies, and big coffee businesses need to organize efforts to help coffee farmers adapt.

This includes funding research and development of climate-resilient espresso varieties, providing farmers with financial and technical support, encouraging practices like intercropping under shelter trees, and developing system to regulate water resources more effectively.

Users may also play a role. Supporting responsible coffee brands and promoting stronger climate plans are small but significant ways.

Even people who do n’t drink coffee can help mitigate climate change by pressuring governments to adopt stronger climate mitigation policies, using public transport, reducing single-use plastics and buying energy-efficient products.

It’s time to reevaluate our day routine and acknowledge the intricate interplay between the various elements that make up caffeine. Climate change threatens more than just our coffee fix – it endangers incomes, economies, and a respected global custom. Before our espresso cups run clean, action must be taken right away.

Thang Nam Do is a Fellow at the Crawford School of Public Policy and the Australian National University’s Institute for Climate, Energy, and Hazard Remedies in the Asia-Pacific Grand Challenge Program. This criticism first appeared on East Asia Forum.

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Commentary: US-China tensions make it harder for Southeast Asia to go green

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A case in point is the 2022 US Commerce Department investigation into eight solar panel companies in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia) accused of skirting US tariffs on Chinese-sourced materials.

That the US is heavily reliant on these four countries for photovoltaic panels – accounting for about 75 per cent on imports in 2021 – was not enough to defend against bipartisan determination to crack down on “unfair” Chinese trade practices.

Not only did the Commerce Department find the exporters guilty of skirting tariffs, but the US Congress voted to reinstate tariffs of up to 254 per cent on solar panels from Southeast Asia. President Joe Biden vetoed this legislative bid, but his waiver on retroactive tariffs only extends until June 2024.

In effect, Southeast Asian firms are caught between a rock and a hard place. They might be forced to choose between Chinese expertise and the lucrative US market, limiting their ability to grow and support their home country’s green transition.

NAVIGATING ROUGH WATERS, WITH HELP

The costs of a failed green transition are especially stark for Southeast Asia. One model by Deloitte predicted that the region could lose US$28 trillion over the next 50 years in losses from tourism, services and manufacturing if its carbon emissions are not addressed.

While these challenges are steep, they are not insurmountable. There is still room to leverage the competition between the two superpowers to support the region’s green transition.

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Commentary: Why China’s clean energy boom matters for global climate action

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HOW DID CHINA BOOST CLEAN ENERGY SO FAST?

China’s huge domestic market and large-scale deployment of wind and solar contribute greatly to plummeting renewable costs. Steadily lowering costs means green energy becomes viable for developing countries.

In 2012, a large team from China Power Investment Corporation arrived in the high desert in Qinghai province and began building 15.7GW worth of solar across 345 sq km.

It was here that China first figured out how to make intermittent power reliable. Excess power was sent to a hydropower station 40km away and used to pump water uphill. At night, the water would flow back down through the turbines. Technologies developed here are now being used in other large-scale hybrid projects, such as hydro-solar, wind-solar and wind-solar-hydro projects.

In 2022, the government announced plans to install 500GW worth of solar, onshore and offshore wind projects in the Gobi Desert across Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Gansu provinces.

These are intended to not only supercharge China’s clean energy supply, but to tackle desert expansion. Solar panels stabilise the movement of sand and absorb sunlight, reducing evaporation of scarce water and giving plants a better chance at survival. This knowledge, too, came from the Qinghai solar farms, where plants began growing in the shade.

China’s focus on technology has given it combined solar and salt farms, floating solar power plants and energy storage ranging from batteries to compressed air to kinetic flywheels and hydrogen.

While the US and China cooperate at COP28, competition is not far away. China already dominates many clean energy technologies, but the US is trying to catch up through the massive green spend in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.

According to the International Energy Agency, half of all emissions cuts needed to achieve net-zero by 2050 will come from technologies currently at demonstration or prototype phase. These include cheap green hydrogen, next generation nuclear, next generation solar and wind, and functioning carbon capture and storage for remaining fossil fuel use.

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