Plant responses to climate are shaped by their climatic niche, defined by the range of climatic conditions under which they can persist. A mismatch between this niche and current climate can lead to climatic disequilibrium, impacting plant performance and plant--soil interactions. We investigated how such disequilibrium influences soil microbial functioning by quantifying eight enzyme activities involved in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling. We sampled 300 soils beneath plant canopies and adjacent open areas along a gradient of climatic disequilibrium in ten Mediterranean shrublands in the Iberian Peninsula. Plant communities near their climatic optimum exhibited similar enzymatic activity under canopies and in open ground. However, as plant communities deviated from their optimum, soils beneath canopies hosted higher enzyme activity compared to open grounds. These results suggest that plant canopies buffer microbial functioning under climatic stress, shedding light on how climate-driven disequilibria alter plant--soil interactions and ecosystem resilience.