Environmental Overview
Commodities such as coffee can be significantly affected by risks such as adverse weather conditions and natural disasters. South America as a whole faces’ numerous environmental challenges. Floods, droughts, earthquakes, landslides and wildfires can all occur within the continent.
For any business seeking to invest in the region, having knowledge of the risk of these threats is essential to maintain operations. Through the use of Crucible, the threats of natural disasters can be easily visualised and displayed within the platform.
Image 1: Crucible screenshot displaying the land usage of Brazil, alongside any threats of natural disasters.
Crucible has up to date land use cover maps for every country, breaking down the percentage of land cover by type such as crops, built up areas and wooded areas. For commodities companies, this information is crucial to easily determine the feasibility of any investment. From looking at environmental conditions in August 2025, we can see that while Brazil and the rest of South America shouldn’t be affected by the upcoming cyclone Erin, the path of which is visualised with the highest risk areas easy to identify.
However, there is a lesser risk of drought occurring in the region. Countries such as Brazil are facing sustained periods of drought, which will have an impact for a commodity such as coffee. Sustained periods of drought can also dry out vegetation, leading to an increased fire risk. In the screenshot below, the fire and thermal anomaly layer has been displayed to represent this risk.
Image 2: Crucible screenshot displaying the fire and thermal anomaly layer within Crucible.
Through the use of the fire and thermal anomaly layer, we can immediately begin to identify the most at risk areas for wildfires within countries such as Brazil. There is notably a large concentration of reported fires in the northeastern section of Brazil, where in the previous screenshot there was the identified risk of severe drought. Dry vegetation and the high risk of fire has the potential to seriously impact farmland and associated comodities. Coffee production would be seriously impacted in such an area, with insufficient land to cultivate sufficient crops.
With unpredictable weather conditions set to increase in the coming years, it is essential for businesses and organisations to adopt up to date and comprehensive ways of protecting key interests. For goods such as coffee, using a platform such as Crucible will enable businesses to get actionable information as to what areas of risk might impact business. Any developing adervse weather conditions are all acessible in the platform, with users able to easily track these events and understand how their business may be impacted.
CRUCIBLE & COFFEE SERIES
Discover the full series at the links below:
