Of all the alarming things we’ve heard about climate change and global warming in the coming decades, perhaps none is so eyebrow raising as a recent claim that chocolate could go extinct by 2050. Basically, scientists are concerned that the cacao plants that are teh source of chocolate may suffer from climate change and be gone from this Earth by 2050.

Cacao plants are already being hammered by fungal disease and cliamte change, and as coastal flooding, wildfires, and new diseases proliferate, they could face a rough next few decades. The cacao plant itself is very sensitive, and they need very specific conditions that only exist in a small area near the equator.

In an effort to save these plants, scientists are using the gene-editing tool known as CRISPR to alter the DNA of cacao plants and make them better able to handle the harsher climates they are likely to face. The process has worked with other crops in the past, so scientists are hopeful we won’t lose chocolate after all.