Climate Action

Small and growing agricultural enterprises are global leaders championing climate resilience in their communities.


For farmers, climate change is not a far-off crisis. It’s a daily reality. Root Capital connects farmer enterprises with urgently needed resources, including localized data on climate risks, best practices for mitigation and adaptation, and capital for climate-smart investments.

The Challenge

Despite significant global commitments around climate change and the recognized importance of agriculture in confronting it, only 3% of climate capital today flows to agriculture. This investment is often too narrow in scope or one-time-only, leaving under-resourced communities to confront a massive global challenge on their own.  

Yet farmers are our greatest allies in the fight to save our planet. The right support can enable them to conserve precious ecosystems and adapt to existing climate impacts—all while maintaining or even raising their incomes.

Our Approach

Lend to businesses committed to rural climate action.

Build enterprise and farmer capacity to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Pilot financial products to unlock enterprise investments in climate action.

Demonstrate successful approaches and encourage replication by others.

Our Impact

$98.8M

116

473K

in climate finance disbursed to vulnerable communities.

businesses receiving agronomic and climate resilience advisory.

farmers and employees reached via climate resilience work.


Stories of Impact


How Rural Businesses Are Confronting the Climate Crisis

While you sip your morning brew, consider this: By 2050, the area suitable for most coffee production is expected to decline by around 50%. The culprit? Climate change. Your daily dose of coffee depends on specific climate conditions, mostly found in mountainous regions of the tropics. But climate change is shifting conditions in coffee-growing regions, primarily through higher temperatures,…

Bringing Climate Action to Farming Communities: Root Capital’s Climate Resilience Roadmap

This week, Hurricane Iota became the strongest storm ever to hit Nicaragua. The category four storm ripped across the country with torrential rains and winds topping 155mph, mere weeks after the same communities were devastated by Hurricane Eta. In Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua, the 550 members of the Flor de Cafe coffee cooperative…

Lidia and her family. Un futuro más sostenible para las abejas—y los apicultores—en el sur de México

En la península de Yucatán, México, ubicada lejos del mar, la ciudad de Cacaptxa está llena de abejas. En esta comunidad maya, la miel es más que un negocio, es un punto de referencia cultural. Muchas familias han criado abejas durante generaciones. Algunos aún recuerdan cuando la miel se usaba en lugar de las visitas al médico para cerrar las…

Lidia and her family. A More Sustainable Future for Bees—and their Keepers—in Southern Mexico

On Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, nestled far from the sea, the town of Kankabchen is teeming with honeybees. In this Maya community, honey is more than just a business—it’s a cultural touchstone. Families have raised bees for generations. Some can still remember when honey was used in place of doctors’ visits to close wounds and treat cataracts. Lidia Maribel Moo Poot…

These Guatemalan Farmers Are Harnessing the Power of Digital Data With Help From Root Capital

Since the advent of the internet, digital technology has revolutionized the coffee industry. Buyers price their contracts with algorithmic software. Roasters optimize the flavor of their beans by controlling heat to a fraction of a degree. Even baristas use high-tech kits to test the chemical makeup of their brews. But while the world has changed around them, many coffee farmers have been left out.

Triunfo Verde: Preserving Local Ecosystems Through Economic Opportunity in Mexico

This coffee cooperative in southern Mexico is showing that responsible agriculture can help preserve natural resources. The misty forests of southern Mexico’s El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve teem with life. This cloud forest—one of the most biodiverse in the world—serves as a critical habitat for thousands of species of migratory birds and endangered animals. But fragile ecosystems like El Triunfo are…

To Adapt to a Changing Climate, Coffee Farmers Need Bold Allies

The saw makes a grinding sound as Albert, a young Ugandan agronomist, maneuvers it back and forth slowly, cutting through the trunk of the coffee tree. His colleague Ambrose stands next to him, bracing the tree and readying himself to carefully lower it to the ground once the trunk is severed. They repeat the process, one, two, three times for a single tree, cutting away three small trunks almost to the stump—until there’s just a single spindly-looking branch remaining.

What Fair Trade And Other Coffee Certifications Mean For Farmer Livelihoods

Certifications give consumers insights into where their coffee comes from. But with so many certifications out there, figuring out what each one means can be challenging. Here's a short guide to help you understand the major coffee certifications—and what getting certified means for our client businesses and coffee farmers.

How Climate Change Impacts Women Farmers—and What We’re Doing About It

Maria Eufemia Madonado Ocaño holds a small leaf in her hands, mottled yellow where it should be vibrant and green. This leaf represents her livelihood, decimated by la roya—a fungus that develops when conditions are warmer and wetter than usual. The yellow spots are a symptom, but the disease is climate change.

How Root Capital and the IKEA Foundation are Building the Resilience of Smallholder Farmers in East Africa

Photo: USAID/Siegfried Modola Root Capital and the IKEA Foundation are announcing a new partnership, worth €4.8 million, to help 260,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda increase their income and adapt to climate change. The grant builds on the success of a previous partnership, through which Root Capital supported dozens of Kenyan agricultural businesses, helping them break the cycle of poverty in rural communities.