Green Coffee Price
The ICO Composite Indicator Price (I-CIP) averaged 175.73 US cents/lb in December, an 8.8% increase from November 2023. The I-CIP posted a median value of 177.64 US cents/lb, having fluctuated between 163.92 and 186.04 US cents/lb. The December 2023 I-CIP is above the December 2022 I-CIP by 11.8%, with the 12-month rolling average at 165.23 US cents/lb. The I-CIP grew steadily in December 2023, reaching a nine-month high. The rise in tensions in the Red Sea has prompted some shipping lines to re-route their coffee-carrying vessels. Thus, for South-East Asian and East African coffee en route to Europe, unintended consequences include a rise in freight costs as some shipping companies have introduced surcharges to account for the now-extended transit times.

The Colombian Milds and Other Milds increased by 7.6% and 6.9%, to 210.68 and 210.76 US cents/lb, respectively, in December 2023. The Brazilian Naturals presented a growth of 9.4%, reaching an average of 185.23 US cents/lb. However, the Robustas grew the most by 10.5% to 135.47 US cents/lb, the highest level since May 1995, when they were valued at 140.90 US cents/lb. ICE’s New York market was a strong driver of the positive growth, having increased by 9.6% to 186.67 US cents/lb, whilst the London Futures market expanded by 12.2%, to 123.91 US cents/lb, also the highest level since May 1995.

Arbitrage, as measured between the London and New York Futures markets, widened by 5.0% to 62.77 US cents/lb in December 2023.

Intra-day volatility of the I-CIP expanded to 10.2% between November and December 2023. The Colombian Milds’ and Other Milds’ volatility also increased to 10.8% and 10.9%, respectively. Meanwhile, the Brazilian Naturals’ volatility rose by 2.9 percentage points to 12.6% from November to December 2023. The Robustas presented the smallest volatility increase, with a 0.9 percentage point gain, averaging 9.2% for the month of December. The London Futures market’s volatility increased by 2.7 percentage points to 9.1%. Lastly, the New York futures market’s volatility moved in tandem to that of London, expanding by 2.4 percentage points and reaching 10.5%.

The New York certified stocks continued on their downward trajectory, retracting by 15.0% to 0.28 million 60-kg bags, one of the lowest figures ever recorded. Certified stocks of Robusta coffee reached 0.57 million 60-kg bags, a 68.4% increase since November 2023.

Exports by Coffee Groups — Green Beans
Global green bean exports in November 2023 totalled 9.79 million bags, as compared with 9.1 million bags in the same month of the previous year, up 7.6%. As a result, the cumulative total for coffee year 2023/24 to November is 18.39 million bags, as compared with 17.7 million bags over the same period a year ago, up 3.9%.

Shipments of the Other Milds increased by 17.9% in November 2023 to 1.31 million bags from 1.11 million bags in the same period last year. Peru was the main driver of the double-digit growth of this group of coffee, with the origin’s exports of the Other Milds increasing by 60.1% to 0.57 million bags in November 2023 from 0.35 million bags in November 2022, following a 28.9% increase in October 2023. The resurgence of Peru’s exports of the Other Milds is due to the return to normality of local production conditions in coffee year 2023/24 as compared with those seen in coffee year 2022/23. Irregular weather patterns negatively affected the local supply of coffee beans in 2022/23, especially in the first three months of the coffee year, when 1.15 million bags were exported. This was the lowest first three months of exports since the 0.93 million bags shipped in coffee year 2014/15, representing a 26.7% fall in the average volume of exports in coffee years 2015/16–2021/22, which was 1.57 million bags. As a result, the cumulative volume of total exports of the Other Milds also increased, jumping by 9.2% in the first two months of coffee year 2023/24 to 2.74 million bags, versus 2.51 million bags over the same period in 2022/23.

Green bean exports of the Brazilian Naturals increased in November 2023, rising by 1.6% to 3.63 million bags. For the first two months of coffee year 2023/24, green bean exports of the Brazilian Naturals amounted to 7.35 million bags, up 4.0% from 7.07 million bags over the same period a year ago. The relatively shallow positive growth rate reflects the 2.6% increase in exports of the Brazilian Naturals from Brazil, the biggest producer and exporter of this group of coffee, which rose to 3.2 million bags in November 2023 from 3.12 million bags November 2022.

Exports of the Colombian Milds increased by 34.0% to 1.15 million bags in November 2023 from 0.85 million bags in November 2022, driven primarily by Colombia, the main origin of this group of coffee, whose exports of green beans were up 35.6% in November 2023. As a result, exports of the Colombian Milds for the first two months of coffee year 2023/24 are up 18.7% at 2.1 million bags, as compared with 1.77 million bags in the first two months of coffee year 2022/23.

Green bean exports of the Robustas amounted to 3.7 million bags in November 2023, as compared with 3.56 million bags in November 2022, up 4.0%. In volume terms, these constitute the biggest November exports on record, surpassing the level set in November 2022. However, the rise was not sufficient to offset the 10.9% decrease observed in October 2023, when the 2.49 million bags exported represented the lowest quantity for the month since the 1.91 million bags in October 2011. As a result, the cumulative total for the first two months of coffee year 2023/24 is down 2.5%, at 6.2 million bags, as compared with 6.36 million bags in the first two months of coffee year 2022/23. The main driver of November’s Robustas increase was Brazil, shipping 0.86 million bags, a jump of 850.2%.

Exports by Regions — All Forms of Coffee
In November 2023, South America’s exports of all forms of coffee increased by 24.7% to 6.07 million bags. The source of the strong positive growth is mainly Brazil, which saw its exports increase by 21.1% to 4.34 million bags from 3.58 million bags in November 2022. More specifically, it was the Robustas from the origin, which in November increased by 850.2% to 0.86 million bags from 0.09 million bags, which drove the region’s positive growth. The November 2023 exports are Brazil’s highest on record for Robusta coffee, beating the 698,856 bags exported in August 2023. Brazil is one of the largest producers and exporters of the Robustas, having accounted for an 8.1% share of the group’s total exports in coffee year 2021/22, i.e. 3.94 million bags. That said, in July–October 2023, Brazil’s share of the Robustas more than doubled, increasing to 22.3%, with the country exporting 3.09 million bags in just four months. This surge was in response to the reduced volume of Robustas coming out of Vietnam, whose Robusta exports fell by 27.5% in July–October 2023 to 4.92 million bags from 6.78 million bags over the same period a year ago. The continued rampant expansion of Brazil’s Robusta exports despite Vietnam’s recovery in November 2023 suggests that its strong foray into this market may continue.

Robusta exports fell by 27.5% in July–October 2023 to 4.92 million bags from 6.78 million bags over the same period a year ago. The continued rampant expansion of Brazil’s Robusta exports despite Vietnam’s recovery in November 2023 suggests that its strong foray into this market may continue.

Exports of all forms of coffee from Africa decreased by 13.5% to 1.01 million bags in November 2023 from 1.16 million bags in November 2022. For the first two months of coffee year 2023/24, exports totalled 2.06 million bags as compared with 2.24 million bags in coffee year 2022/23, down 8.1%. This is the third consecutive month of negative growth for the region and it affected most origins, including all the major producers whose combined exports decreased by 11.4% to 0.93 million bags from 1.05 million bags in November 2022. It is speculated that the surge in Brazil’s Robusta exports is crowding out traditional exporters of the group from the market, thus broadly affecting Africa as a whole, which is a largely Robusta-producing region. Uganda, the largest producer and exporter of Robusta coffee in Africa, was also affected by a delayed harvest season which negatively impacted the supply availability.

In November 2023, exports of all forms of coffee from Mexico & Central America were up 15.7% to 0.41 million bags, as compared with 0.35 million in November 2022. As a result, total exports are up 11.0% for October 2023 to November 2023 at 0.9 million bags, as compared with 0.81 million bags for the same period a year ago. Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico are the three main origins behind the region’s double-digit growth in November, with their respective exports up 114.0%, 29.7% and 11.8%. These robust growth rates do not, however, herald the beginning of a record-breaking year for the three origins or for the region, but rather are indications that export volumes are returning to the levels of the recent past, following a sharp fall in coffee year 2022/23. Accordingly, the average October–November export volume for coffee years 2017/18–2021/22 was 0.7 million bags for the three countries as compared with 0.6 million bags in coffee year 2022/23, a 14.6% fall. This has now increased to 0.68 million bags in coffee year 2023/24.

Exports of all forms of coffee from Asia & Oceania decreased by 18.0% to 3.12 million bags in November 2023. November’s downturn was mainly due to Indonesia, with exports down 45.2% to 0.49 million bags from 0.89 million bags in November 2022. These are the lowest November exports since the 0.2 million bags shipped in 2018. The decrease can be attributed to a reduced harvest in coffee year 2023/24, which is estimated to have fallen by 16.6% to 10.0 million bags from 11.98 million bags in coffee year 2022/23 on the back of excessive rains that damaged cherries in April–May 2023. Vietnam’s exports fell by 7.7% in November, a vast improvement from the steep declines of 23.6%, 45.0% and 44.7% seen in August, September and October 2023. This may indicate that its supply issues have now started to resolve after very low in-origin stock levels were reported in Q4 of coffee year 2022/23, when the start of the harvest still remained three to four months away.

Exports of Coffee by Forms
Total exports of soluble coffee decreased by 25.4% in November 2023 to 0.77 million bags from 1.03 million bags in November 2022. In the first two months of coffee year 2023/24, a total of 1.75 million bags of soluble coffee were exported, representing a decrease of 3.0% from the 1.8 million bags exported in the same period during the previous coffee year.

Soluble coffee’s share in the total exports of all forms of coffee for the year to date was 8.6% in November 2023, down from 9.2% in the same period a year ago. Brazil is the largest exporter of soluble coffee, having shipped 0.24 million bags in November 2023.

Exports of roasted beans were down 15.5% in November 2023 to 54,379 bags, as compared with 64,324 bags in November 2022. The cumulative total for coffee year 2023/24 to November 2023 was 0.1 million bags, as compared with 0.13 million bags in same period a year ago.

Production and Consumption
World coffee production increased by 0.1% to 168.2 million bags in coffee year 2022/23. The stagnant growth rate belies the tremendous changes at the regional level, with the coffee world neatly split between the expanding Americas and the shrinking rest of the world.

Asia & Oceania and Africa’s 4.7% and 7.2% decreases in production to 49.84 million bags and 17.9 million bags, respectively, can be attributed to adverse weather conditions negatively affecting key producers in the regions, particularly Vietnam, Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda. The magnitude of the fall in outputs of the two regions was entirely mitigated by the Americas, especially by South America’s 4.8% increase, which in turn was driven mainly by the biennial production-affected 8.4% increase in Brazil. The combined output of the Americas was 100.5 million bags.

The Americas versus the rest of the world split was also reflected in the production split between the Arabicas and Robustas, with the former’s output increasing by 1.8% to 94.0 million bags as compared with the 2.0% decrease of the latter to 74.2 million bags.

Looking ahead, the output for coffee year 2023/24 is expected to increase by 5.8% to 178.0 million bags, with the Arabicas’ output rising to 102.2 million bags and the Robustas’ increasing to 75.8 million bags.

The biennial production effect will play a large role in the outlook, especially for Brazil and the Arabicas, as the impact of the July 2021 frost continues to be resolved. Coffee year 2023/24 is anticipated to be an exceptional off-biennial year, feeling more like a good on-biennial following an average on-biennial year. Adverse weather conditions, first noted in 2022 and continuing into 2023, will have a negative impact on the outlook for coffee year 2023/24. The anticipated El Niño phenomenon is set to dampen the outlook in Asia, especially for origins like Indonesia. Meanwhile, Vietnam is expected to benefit from the drier/hotter weather as irrigation mitigates the reduced precipitation.

World coffee consumption is continuing to resolve through the issues brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the consumption trend following an established patten in response to an external shock. The expectation for coffee year 2022/23 was for a smaller positive growth rate; however, world coffee consumption actually recorded a decrease of 2.0% to 173.1 million bags.

Consumption in coffee year 2022/23 did not faithfully follow the established pattern due to the impact of the high cost of living, falling disposable incomes and a long stocks drawdown. Despite coffee being relatively inelastic, the challenging global economic environment would have had a negative impact on its consumption. The world inflation rate was at its highest in 2021 at 9.4%, while the benchmark interest rate averaged 4.9% at the end of September 2023 in the European Union, UK and USA, the highest level since an average of 5.8% in 2000. At the same time, there was a large drawdown of stocks, where combined stocks reported by the European Coffee Federation and those held at the Intercontinental Exchange’s warehouses in the USA fell by 4.8 million bags from 14.5 million to 9.8 million. This drawdown would have reduced the need for purchases on the international market, seemingly reflected as lower and anomalous global consumption rates for coffee year 2022/23.

The world coffee consumption outlook for coffee year 2023/24 is broadly framed by the assumption that the global economy will continue to grow at above 3.0%, and that the industry will respond to the large drawdown of stocks, which will be positively reflected in apparent consumption. As a result, world coffee consumption is expected to grow by 2.2% to 177.0 million bags, with non-producing countries making the biggest contribution to the overall increase. Coffee consumption in this group of countries should expand by 2.1%.

As a result, the world coffee market is expected to run a surplus of 1.0 million bags in coffee year 2023/24.

The outlook is taken from the newest publication of the Statistics Section of the Secretariat of the International Coffee Organization (ICO), the Coffee Report and Outlook (CRO). For the full CRO or for more information, visit the ICO website: icocoffee.org.

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Climate change is putting coffee-growing areas under pressure. Smallholder coffee farmers are exposed to the risk of irregular weather conditions that can affect their crops.

On the occasion of International Coffee Day, Nestlé announced that it is piloting a weather insurance programme in Indonesia for more than 800 smallholder coffee farmers that supply coffee to its brand, Nescafé. The company is launching the insurance scheme in collaboration with Blue Marble, a specialist in climate insurance. The insurance provides financial protection to help farmers cope with unpredictable weather patterns of rainfall and severe drought.

Marcelo Burity, global head of Nestlé’s green coffee development, said, “This weather insurance helps to establish a support mechanism for smallholder coffee farmers in Indonesia. It allows them to access financial resources to re-establish their crops in the event of irregular weather conditions while building resilience in coffee farms.”

The insurance uses satellite-based climate data to determine when coffee output has been impacted by either too much or not enough rainfall during key phases of the crop cycle. Payments are issued automatically to registered coffee farmers that have been affected, according to the severity of the weather.

“Smallholder coffee farmers in Indonesia are vulnerable to climate risks and need access to insurance to protect against extreme weather events,” said Jaime de Piniés, CEO of Blue Marble. “We are proud to partner with Nestlé and its brand Nescafé to develop innovative ways to support the climate adaptation of smallholder coffee farmers and their families.”

This initiative is an integral part of the Nescafé Plan 2030, the brand’s vision to support the long term sustainability of coffee and to help improve farmers’ livelihoods. Based on the results of the pilot, Nestlé will determine whether to expand the approach to other Nescafé sourcing locations around the world.

Sharing knowledge to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture

Changing agricultural practices requires access to knowledge and time to learn and implement. By moving to regenerative agriculture, coffee farmers can help restore soil health, reverse biodiversity loss, and strengthen ecosystems. Doing so also helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.

Nestlé, has contributed to the ‘Regenerative Agriculture for Low-Carbon and Resilient Coffee Farms – A Practical Guidebook,’ developed by the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). This guidebook provides field agronomists, trainers and professionals working with coffee farmers with a set of best practices that they can use and adapt to different farming contexts, helping farmers transition to regenerative agriculture. These best practices include agroforestry, intercropping, soil conservation and cover crops, integrated weed and pest management, integrated nutrient management, efficient water use, waste valorisation, landscape actions and the rejuvenation of coffee trees with well adapted varieties.

Pascal Chapot, global head of sustainable agriculture development at Nestlé, said, “The guidebook gives coffee farmers a set of field actions they can implement tomorrow to help them become more resilient to climate change and to diversify their sources of income. Knowledge is key, and we hope that this guidebook makes these regenerative agriculture practices more accessible to farmers and supports an accelerated transition towards them. This is essential to tackling the climate challenges ahead.”

Mirjam Pulleman, senior soil ecologist and co-author of the guidebook said, “Creating real impact on the ground requires learning from real experiences with farmers in different origins and providing incentives to support farmers in their journey. The best practices highlighted in the guidebook are a starting point. Each practice will need to be tailored to the specificities of each country of origin, the different farm types, the surrounding landscapes and the resources available.”

From Nestlé’s perspective, the guidebook complements the Nestlé Regenerative Agriculture Framework (pdf, 18Mb). Nestlé considers regenerative agriculture to be a key component of its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to reach net zero by 2050. It is also a central pillar of its coffee sustainability programmes, the Nescafé Plan 2030 and the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality programme.

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While this increasingly extreme weather may have been a wakeup call for some, World Coffee Research (WCR) has long anticipated these threats and is on a mission to mitigate the effects these changes will have, and is having, on our coffee industry, by breeding and growing more climate resistant coffee species. Yesterday, WCR shared an article on its LinkedIn page, published by the Financial Times, titled ‘Have we reached peak coffee?’

Coffee consumption is on the rise, the article detailed, with a rapidly growing market among ‘new consumers’ in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, this demand is outpacing supply, with warming temperatures threatening up to half of current coffee farmland, and fluctuating harvests forcing farmers to abandon the industry for a more stable income.

Vanusia Nogueira, executive director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) noted in the piece that coffee may be forced to become a luxury commodity or endure a significant hit to its quality if the deficit continues.

Meanwhile, Jennifer ‘Vern’ Long, chief executive of WCR explained how the challenge comes from coffee being a plant that loves ‘perfect’ or ‘Goldilocks’ weather with just the right temperatures and rainfall, which are the fragile conditions being threatened by climate change. Areas that are currently ideal for coffee growing, known as the coffee belt, are decreasing in their suitability, with areas previously unsuited, to the north or south of this belt, beginning to be more suitable for growing coffee. However, any shift in location would affect the livelihoods of innumerable communities across the coffee belt that are reliant on coffee growing for their economy.

Since so much of the retail value of coffee is held in the higher-income countries which import the coffee, the coffee-farming communities do not have the resources or resilience to hold fast against these climate-induced challenges. The future of coffee hangs in the balance unless there is a redistribution of the risk and profit in the industry as a whole so that coffee farming remains a desirable and reliable practice for those communities, emphasised Daniele Giovannucci, founder of the Committeee on Sustainability Assessment, in the article.

Alongside this rethink of coffee pricing, ought to be a revaluation of the coffee plants themselves. While there are 130 species of coffee discovered in the wild, only arabica and robusta are used for the world’s coffee consumption, which significantly increases the vulnerability of the plant.

At World of Coffee Athens in June, Emilia Umaña, WCR nursery development manager, explained in her presentation that World Coffee Research is a collective investment in the future of coffee by the coffee industry. The work WCR does is to breed varieties that wouldn’t normally meet naturally, in order to cultivate certain advantageous characteristics, notably resistance to drought and high temperatures, to safeguard the future of the coffee industry. WCR has over 170 members in 30 countries and relies on these multinational links in its research. Numerous factors such as altitude, soil type, etc., as well as climate, necessarily impact the characteristics of coffee plants grown there, so the same variant may differ in each location. Which is why thorough testing internationally is essential.

Drastic changes to the way we grow, trade, and consume coffee might well be on the horizon, which is why change is rapidly needed to meet the ever-growing demand from the threatened supply. Work that the WCR is doing provides options to farmers, but they must be supported and incentivised by the corporations dominating the rest of the supply chain for coffee farming to continue being a worthwhile and viable livelihood.

• Kathryn Brand, associate editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: kathryn@bellpublishing.com
  Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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Coffee farmers continue to face relentless challenges including mounting economic and climate pressures. Available data show that smallholder farmers produce 60 percent of the world’s coffee yet nearly half of them live in poverty and nearly 25 percent of them live in extreme poverty (less than USD $2.15/day). Furthermore, although coffee prices in 2022 were relatively high, profits ultimately failed to trickle down to the farmers themselves. Studies have shown that producers typically retain around one percent of the retail coffee price — for a USD $4 cup of specialty coffee that equals around $0.04 per cup.

The new Fairtrade prices, which were announced in March and implemented 1 August 2023 (for contracts signed by that date), increase the baseline price by 29 percent and 19 percent for Fairtrade-certified Arabica and Robusta, respectively. The new prices come after a cost-of-production study and consultation – including outreach to more than 600 producer organisations and 745 commercial partners – confirmed that farmers need to be paid more or they cannot continue to grow coffee.

“Paying farmers a fair price for their crops is the bare minimum to keep them farming,” Benjamin Kouame, chair of Fairtrade Africa shared of the new price model.

The Bonn, Germany-based social justice organisation said the increase will provide farmers with significant price risk management support in times of wild market fluctuation and adapt to their needs as they face inflation in their home countries and substantial additional costs due to climate change adaption. The new Fairtrade Minimum Price for washed Arabica beans – which represent more than 80 percent of all Fairtrade coffee sold – is USD $1.80 per pound, an increase of 40 cents over the previous price of $1.40 per pound. For natural Robusta, the price increases by 19 cents to $1.20 per pound. The additional value for organic Fairtrade coffee has been increased by a third, from 30 cents to 40 cents per pound. According to the non-profit organisation, more than half of Fairtrade coffee beans sold in 2021 were also organic certified.

“Despite the recent spikes in global coffee prices, coffee farmers are struggling with inflation, skyrocketing production costs, and crop loss due to the effects of climate change. Many coffee farmers are abandoning their farms in search of opportunities elsewhere and young people today in coffee-growing communities struggle to see a future in coffee,” Monika Firl, senior manager for coffee at Fairtrade International, said in a statement when the new minimum price was first announced. “The fact that farmers cannot make a living in coffee is a tragic commentary for the industry and a huge risk for the future of the global coffee sector as a whole.”

With its new minimum price, Firl said that Fairtrade is offering coffee farmers and their cooperatives a pricing safety net, “better adapted to the uncertain times we are living in, while leaving the door open for them to earn more when market prices are above the Fairtrade Minimum Price.” She added, “This is an essential tool that coffee farmers must be allowed to leverage in order to find renewed stability in their profession.”

Fairtrade’s global coffee network comprises nearly 900,000 certified coffee farmers in over 650 producer organisations spanning 31 countries. In addition to the Fairtrade Minimum Price, Fairtrade-certified farmers also receive a Premium – an additional sum of money that is collectively invested in projects to improve productivity, climate adaptation, quality, infrastructure, and basic community services identified as priorities by the farmers themselves and their organisations.

“The future of coffee is one where fair pricing is the norm. It is not acceptable for coffee farmers to continue to subsidise the multi-billion dollar coffee industry, while also taking on the hard work of sustainable transition,” emphasised Firl.

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: vanessa@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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The Rainforest Alliance has set out its new vision for accelerating action to address the climate emergency, biodiversity loss, systemic poverty, and human rights issues in its 2022 Annual Report.

Priority landscapes: Discover more about the Rainforest Alliance’s efforts to drive sustainability transformation in Cameroon, Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico, Indonesia, and beyond. Learn about the launch and recognition of LandScale, a tool that measures, evaluates, and communicates the performance of sustainable landscapes.

Certification and beyond: Explore crop-specific facts and figures and delve into the Rainforest Alliance’s work beyond certification, including advocacy around the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Discover new tools such as the Regenerative Coffee Scorecard, which offers farmers and companies guidance on their transition to regenerative agriculture.

The Rainforest Alliance’s 2030 vision: Dive into the Rainforest Alliance’s forward-looking vision that emphasises the need to transform our food system through regenerative agriculture in the world’s most critical tropical landscapes. It aims to drive systemic change—all while placing rural communities at the heart of the solution.

• 58 countries with certified farms and projects; 6,000+ company partners 
• Four million farmers and workers following the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard 
• Six million+ hectares of farmland certified against our sustainability standards globally 
• 87 projects to improve livelihoods and protect nature; 18 new projects started in 2022 
• 54,000+ products with the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal or UTZ label available 

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Lost from cultivation for more than half a century, stenophylla coffee, or Coffea stenophylla to give it its scientific name, has been grown successfully at a pilot project in the east of the country following its rediscovery in the wild.

It took a five-year-long search by a Sierra Leonean forestry expert, Daniel Sarmu, through dense West African bush armed with little more than a pressing of a dried stenophylla leaf dating from the 1950s, before the first wild examples were found.

But it is the recent progress made in nurseries and plantations close to where the trees were rediscovered where the interest lies for the world’s coffee market, projected to be worth USD 113 billion annually by 2030.

With rising temperatures and changes in rainfall threatening current coffee production, developments in Sierra Leone offer hope for climate-resilient solutions for the world’s coffee drinkers.

The pilot project is driving ambitious plans to establish stenophylla as the flagship product of Sierra Leone’s agricultural sector, a significant turnaround for a species once sold as Sierra Leone highland coffee but which had been quietly forgotten through history.

Much more work needs to be done to establish the commercial viability of stenophylla but progress of the preliminary project, funded by the Switzerland-based coffee trader, Sucafina, has been encouraging.

“The results are so positive that we believe everything is in place to potentially rejuvenate Stenophylla, a coffee that was once drunk in Paris and London but has not been sold commercially for decades,” said Daniel Sarmu, the forestry expert who found the lost plant and is running the pilot.

“We see this as a possible future flagship product to put Sierra Leone on the world’s coffee map.”

The Sierra Leonean project has implications for the world’s coffee market as it offers hope in the face of the threat that climate change poses to the two species – Arabica and Robusta – which produce the beans that go into almost all of the 400 billion cups of coffee drunk each year.

Grown commercially in more than 50 nations in an industry that generates more than 25 million jobs, these two species are vulnerable to climate change, whilst Stenophylla offers both great taste and heat tolerance.

In blind tastings held since the rediscovery, experts scored stenophylla as highly for taste as some high-grade Arabicas, as well as offering distinctly novel flavours. Many other wild species of coffee have been tasted over the decades but with disappointing results.

Stenophylla’s taste quality, which saw it traded and drunk in the coffee salons of Europe in the late nineteenth century, makes it stand out as a potential equivalent to Arabica and Robusta.

Naturally occurring in the eastern highlands of Sierra Leone, a vestigial stenophylla farming sector flourished briefly during British colonial rule until the turn of the twentieth century when it dwindled and was forgotten as mass production of Arabica and Robusta came to dominate the global market. There are even early colonial records of it being grown commercially on hilly farm-holdings close to the centre of what is now Freetown, the coastal capital of Sierra Leone.

It is its adaptation to the environment of lowland, tropical Upper West Africa that makes stenophylla so unique. With old records of it occurring naturally in Guinea-Conakry, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, on slopes of hills ranging from 200 to 700 metres above sea level, Stenophylla has a tolerance for high temperatures, and perhaps even some drought tolerance.

Daniel Sarmu and his two British collaborators, Aaron Davis from The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and Jeremy Haggar from the University of Greenwich, point out that more research needs to be done on the unique characteristics of stenophylla. This includes analysis of the climate, terrain, soils and topography that favour its growth and, importantly, its yield in terms of amount of berries and the time taken for the plant to grow from a seed to productivity.

“We are learning all the time,” Daniel Sarmu said. “The historic literature only gives part of the picture so we need to build up a better understanding. But the work we are doing is encouraging with, for example, plants promising to yield fruits (and thus coffee beans) after three or four years rather than the seven or nine years suggested in some of the old references.” The lifecycle of Arabica and Robusta is three or four years from planting a seed to harvesting fruit mature enough to produce commercial coffee.

Working with his British colleagues who found references to Stenophylla in old books and journals, Daniel Sarmu led the field work. A forestry graduate with a degree from Sierra Leone’s Njala University, to begin with all he had to guide him were a few old photographs and a dried sample of a stenophylla leaf that had been archived at the National Herbarium which is located at his alma mater.

Daniel Sarmu led search parties with his colleagues in the forested hills around Freetown but found no remnants of the historic farms where stenophylla bloomed more than a century ago. The city is located on a mountainous peninsula and, although the slopes used to be heavily forested, urbanisation has led to a significant amount of deforestation.

After cross referencing maps with old records, his search focused far from the city in areas that included the Kambui Hills in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, densely forested areas which meant locating the remnant Stenophylla plants was like hunting a needle in a haystack.

While experts have other ways to identify stenophylla, the layman might look for their long, thin, spear-tip shaped leaves and their distinctive black berries, different from the deep red berries of commercial coffee plants.

After a search that lasted five years and working with local villagers and foresters, Daniel Sarmu eventually found 15 stenophylla trees and was able to gather fruits and so-called ‘wildlings’, young stenophylla plants propagated naturally in the wild.

His work led to growing sense of ‘stenophylla fever’ as word spread among rural communities with foresters, farmers and hunters all searching for areas where the plant might grow. Stands of mature stenophylla have now been found in three areas in the east and south of Sierra Leone with more discoveries expected in other hilly regions.

A five-acre plot was offered up by one community for a nursery, where seeds were successfully planted and germinated, appearing as seedlings under the cover of thatched sunshades made from palm fronds. More than 1,400 seedlings cultivated in the nursery have been planted out in the areas where the project managers hope they will be able to mature and grow a first crop of fruit. Another 6,000 seedlings from the nursery are due to be planted out in the rainy season, which has just begun in Sierra Leone and will last until early September.

The community is committed to the project and has made available 50 acres of additional land to be used as potential hub plantations for a more ambitious plan to grow stenophylla on a commercial scale.

“The first ones planted out are doing better than we expected, growing well, with good leaf development. We were worried it might take many years to crop but now we think it will be about the time of commercial coffee plants,” Daniel Sarmu said.

Grafting experiments have also been started with the top half of stenophylla plants grafted successfully onto rootstocks of Liberian coffee, Coffea liberica, which grows well in the area but produces a lower value berry.

More grafting work is planned to explore how best to develop commercial stenophylla production in an expedient and cost-effective manner.

Potential stenophylla farming is the sort of commercial enterprise welcomed by the government of Sierra Leone, which has just opened a new ‘one stop shop’ for foreign investors seeking opportunities in the country.

The newly-created National Investment Board, which streamlines a notoriously clumsy current process for business licensing and regulation in Sierra Leone, is putting a strong emphasis on agriculture, the country’s single largest employer, and the environment. Stenophylla fits well with both categories of priority.

Agronomists have studied the impact of rising temperatures and altered rainfall patterns on coffee production for Arabica and Robusta. Most experts predict major problems with many accepting that if global temperatures rise at current levels more than 50% of the land where coffee is currently produced will soon be unsuitable for production.

Read more about the re-discovery of stenophylla in the wild here.

The post Progress made in climate-resistant coffee species in Sierra Leone appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

Recently adopted practices include intercropping, mulching and integrated weed management. In 2022, the Nescafé Plan 2030 farmer trainings on regenerative agricultural practices reached more than 100,000 farmers in 14 countries. In addition, 1.4 million trees were planted in and around coffee farms that supply coffee to Nescafé, providing shade to prevent coffee’s over-exposure to the sun and additional revenue sources for farmers.

Rejuvenation of coffee trees is key to improving the yields of coffee farms. In 2022, Nescafé distributed 23 million disease and drought-resistant, high-yield coffee plantlets to help rejuvenate coffee plots, increase productivity and reduce the use of agrochemicals.

Philipp Navratil, head of Nestlé’s Coffee Strategic Business Unit said, “The Nescafé Plan 2030 Progress Report shows the potential of regenerative agriculture to help make coffee farming more sustainable over the long term. We are supporting coffee farmers to make this transition and are giving them the know-how and tools they need to increase yields and income, while helping reduce carbon emissions at the same time.”

Climate change is the number one concern for coffee farmers in the 14 countries assessed by the Rainforest Alliance. It is followed by high input costs and low raw material prices. Most farmers say that the main reasons for the Nescafé Plan’s success are its consistent and high-volume purchases, regular technical assistance on the ground and access to markets.

The Nescafé Plan 2030 is piloting financial support schemes to help farmers transition to more sustainable practices. The pilots have engaged around 3,000 coffee farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia and Mexico, countries where farmers earn, on average, less than a living income. These pilots include testing conditional cash incentives to reward the transition to regenerative agriculture and the rejuvenation of coffee plots as well as weather insurance schemes to protect farmers’ income against the unexpected effects of climate change. Although the pilots are still ongoing, Nescafé is seeing encouraging results and strong farmer engagement.

Yustika Muharastri, monitoring and evaluation manager from the Rainforest Alliance said, “The Rainforest Alliance works with the Nescafé team to monitor and assess their efforts through the Nescafé Plan. We have observed encouraging trends, including improved incomes in some countries, and increased adoption of important regenerative practices, such as integrated weed and pest management. We are excited that our ongoing collaboration will continue to provide valuable insights to the Nescafé Plan, further supporting its ambition to improve the livelihoods of many more coffee farmers.”

The Nescafé Plan 2030 aims to issue a progress report every year to provide an update on the evolution of its work in helping coffee farming communities transition to regenerative agriculture practices and improve their livelihoods.

Read the Nescafé Plan 2030 Progress Report (pdf, 12Mb)
Read the Rainforest Alliance Impact Assessment

The post Nescafé Plan 2030 Progress Report published appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

Robusta farmers have a new open-access resource at their fingertips—World Coffee Research’s (WCR) Robusta Variety Catalog. The catalogue, which is available in English and Spanish, profiles 47 robusta varieties—from origins such as Brazil, India, Indonesia, Uganda, Mexico, and Vietnam—using 20+ variables, like yield potential, stature, bean size, nutrition requirements, lineage, susceptibility to pests/diseases, and many more. The catalogue is hosted alongside WCR’s existing Arabica Varieties Catalog on the interactive website varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org.

With robusta’s growing prevalence in the global market, WCR hopes the catalogue will lower the risk associated with coffee farming by providing direct information to enable farmers and other planting decision-makers to make an informed choice about what varieties will grow best in particular environments.

Since the life of a coffee tree is 20-30 years, the decision farmers make about which variety to plant has long-term consequences. If a farmer makes an uninformed decision on variety, the cumulative loss can be huge. Comparatively, if a farmer makes the right decision, the cumulative gain can be significant. For example, a robusta farmer in Uganda who successfully cultivates a healthy Coffee Wilt Disease resistant (CWD-r) plant can earn 250% more than a farmer who plants a susceptible, unhealthy plant.

Most robusta farmers in particular do not have access to transparent information about available varieties and how they differ. Robusta farmers typically sell into lower-value markets where variety differentiation is nonexistent. In addition, robusta requires more than one variety and simultaneous flowering for successful pollination. Because of this, farmers must cultivate a mixt of complementary clones to enhance fruit production and quality. These mixtures, which typically comprise officially-released commercial varieties, are often distributed to farmers with minimal transparency about what clones are included in the mix and their unique properties. The lack of up-to-date variety information puts farmers at risk and perpetuates low yields around the globe.

This resource serves as an expansion of WCR’s popular Arabica Variety Catalog, which was launched in 2016 and profiles arabica varieties from around the world. At the time of its release, the arabica catalogue was a first-of-its-kind resource and the only global compendium of information about available coffee varieties for farmers, buyers, and roasters. The resource has been viewed over one million times since its launch and, as a living document, continues to support WCR’s goal to improve the availability and accessibility of improved planting material for farmers around the world.

Until recently, arabica held reign over most of the coffee market due to preferences for its beverage quality, but various factors, including the increasing demand and climate pressure for farmers, have led to expansions in the production of robusta.

“Since our founding over ten years ago, WCR has worked to empower farmers by making tools available to choose the right varieties for their farms and their markets—varieties that deliver high yield and better-tasting coffee in the long term,” said WCR’s chief executive officer Dr Jennifer “Vern” Long. “And, now that robusta comprises 40% of the coffee produced and marketed globally, we saw the need to support farmers by creating this tool.”

The robusta catalogue was generated through collaborative sourcing of data about varieties from breeders and other experts, including the Central Coffee Research Institute (CCRI), the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI), the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), the National Coffee Research Institute of Uganda (NaCORI-Uganda), the Western Highlands Agroforestry Science Institute (WASI), and Nestlé’s Research Center. The varieties in the robusta catalogue were selected for inclusion because of their economic, historical, cultural, or genetic importance. Even so, significant gaps in data for many Robusta varieties remain. The genetic diversity of robusta coffee is also much larger than that of arabica, and it is only just beginning to be explored by breeders and the industry at large. The catalogue, therefore, does not aim to represent an exhaustive list of all coffee varieties in existence.

Alongside the detailed variety profiles, users can find a consolidated and peer-reviewed history of robusta as a species, which tracks it from its origins in central and western sub-Saharan Africa through its dispersal across Asia and Latin America to its cultivation today. In addition, the history provides a brief overview of the genetic diversity and conservation of robusta to provide readers the opportunity to better understand how well-differentiated the various populations of this species are.

The interactive catalogue website features the ability to filter on different variables, such as yield potential, country of release, and more. It also includes the ability to generate a unique, customisable PDF with the varieties of the user’s choice, and a new visualisation of the genetic groups of the included varieties. Both the arabica and robusta catalogues are shared via Creative Commons licenses that make them available for free distribution worldwide.

The robusta and arabica catalogues can be accessed free of cost at varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org.

The post World Coffee Research releases new Robusta variety catalogue appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

Climate change and the continued weather unpredictability have prompted agriculture and manufacturing industries to look deeper into their practices and their impact. Growing food with weather shifts wiping out crops and depleted soil beds not providing adequate nutrients is increasingly challenging. Sustainable and organic methods can ensure that no further harm is being done; however, there is increased recognition of the need for incremental positive changes in the atmosphere and the soil.

On 16 January, the World Economic Forum reported the need to take immediate action to create a nature positive economy. This includes recognising regenerative agriculture for both its potential to address the climate crisis, while also cultivating new businesses and jobs.

Keeping carbon in the earth and plants

One way to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is through biological sequestering, which naturally occurs in grasslands, forests and soil. In a recent study published by The Journal of Agricultural Science, researchers Iticha and Niguse explored coffee plants’ contribution to sequestering carbon in agroforestry systems of Southwestern Ethiopia. The study looked at coffee forests’ role in mitigating climate change to quantify coffee plants’ contribution to the overall carbon stock of coffee agroforestry systems. The study’s results demonstrated the interdependency between crops, specifically, that the carbon sequestration varied with the coffee management system and type of shade tree. “Albizia julibrissin” (mimosa or silk tree plant) was the most compatible plant, followed by the mixed tree-shaded stratum and the “Syzgium”-shaded coffee stratum.

According to the Rodale Institute, the widespread adoption of regenerative organic practices could sequester more than 100 percent of the annual carbon dioxide emissions. In fact, the organic matter in soil has up to four times more carbon than the atmosphere and vegetation. However, to sequester the carbon in the ground, there is a need for a continual supply of organic matter. This organic matter is vital to both prevent carbon from leaching into the atmosphere and to support microbial life and plant life.

Regenerative agricultural practices are increasingly being recognised as the key to achieving net positive and, in turn, helping repair the atmosphere and infuse nutrients back into the soil. It is a nature-positive agricultural system that mimics natural processes in the ecosystems. Through regenerative agriculture, agroecosystems can be designed to improve soil health, biodiversity, the carbon sequestration rate, and increase the economic resilience of farmers.

On its website, Nespresso explains that regenerative agriculture “is a holistic agricultural system that works in harmony with its local environment. Practices such as using cover crops, crop rotation, no-tillage, diversification (when possible, with trees) and others are applied for that purpose.” Adopting regenerative agriculture practices has been proven to have a widescale impact in addition to carbon sequestering, ecosystem resilience and improved soil health such as developing more nutrient-dense foods.

Recent research from the Farming Systems Trial conducted by the Rodale Institute revealed that these practices could produce a more nutrient-dense crop and be an effective model to withstand the stressors of extreme weather changes. Their 40-year report showed a positive impact on soil health, water infiltration, carbon capture, and yields when adopting regenerative organic practices. In addition, the trial results supported that regenerative organic plots could sustain their crops in extreme weather conditions. “The Farming Systems Trial (FST) is one of our most significant research projects,” Rodale Institute CEO Jeff Moyer said. “In fact, with FST’s 40 years of accumulated data and findings, it is fair to say that it is the most consequential study of organic agriculture anywhere.”

Despite this long history with regenerative practices, conventional farmers have only recently recognised regenerative as a potential solution to sustain and grow their businesses. Growth in the tea and coffee sectors is on a positive trajectory, including adopting the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROC) certification to help communicate these agricultural practices to consumers. Equator Coffee, Heirloom Coffee Roasters, Canyon Coffee, and Groundwork Coffee are four coffee roasters using the ROC certification, obtaining certified coffee from producer groups based in Nicaragua and Sierra Leone.

On 6 March, the 2023 Natural Products Expo West trade show in Anaheim, California, reported that 63 CPG brands attending the event support regenerative agriculture, an increase of ten companies from the previous year. Regenerative agriculture was a topic of interest this year, with the Expo West recognising and celebrating leaders in regenerative agriculture and acknowledging the challenges these companies have faced. “The keynote speaker on the first day at the Expo West really put forth regenerative agriculture as the top solution to address climate change today,” said Michael Ham, founder, Wild Orchid Tea, Mt Kisco, New York. “People are waking up to the fact that we cannot extract any more from the Earth, and we need to replenish what we’ve removed.”

Natural Products Expo West reported that there are several barriers preventing widespread adoption, including a limited supply chain, difficulty in implementing the practices, and a lack of clarity on how to communicate the value to the end consumer. Only 4 percent of US consumers are aware of regenerative practices; however, 49 percent of US consumers identified as either being health and/or environmentally motivated, providing a potential market for regenerative products to tap into.

“The biggest thing brands need to look at is the purchasing power of the younger demographics,” said Ham. “This group is looking for brands very focused on sustainability, environmental consciousness and how they treat their workers.” Wild Orchid Tea has been slowly building awareness of the virtues of regenerative agriculture through education and its product line. This year, one of their primary areas of focus is on growing their retail market, which includes launching a plant-based tea bag line providing consumers with a convenient, high-quality regenerative tea product.

Within the last five years, several significant players in both the tea and coffee industries have become advocates for this method of agriculture, providing resources and training for farmers wanting to convert the farms. Established by Filipe Villela and Marco de Boer, reNature, based in the Netherlands, was created to support coffee farmers contemplating switching to regenerative practices. The company supports farmers with various tools, including training programs and strategic advisory consultations, to aid them with the transition to a regenerative farming system.

In its Positive Cup report, Nespresso emphasised the need to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture. This includes the commitment to reduce the use of agrochemicals, and adopt nature-based practices, carbon removal, including a commitment to plant four million trees each year, and the adoption of crop diversification, and reduced tillage, to infuse the health of the soil, and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Nespresso is working in conjunction with reNature to both define key regenerative agricultural practices in the coffee sector and develop an analytical framework to evaluate both the costs and benefits of these practices. One of the first adopters of these practices is the Guima Café, Brazil, where they are currently implementing regenerative agriculture practices, beginning with a 10-hectare demonstration plot, with the goal of scaling it to 850 hectares.

“I think this year is going to be a seminal moment for regenerative brands,” shared Ham. He shared that his booth received a lot of interest and support about regenerative practices throughout Expo West, including questions from major retailers and tea brands. “It (regenerative agriculture) is going to be a focus at these top retailers. This increased attention on regenerative practices, and products, is vital to help increase consumer awareness of this agricultural practices, and in turn, drive sales.”

Led by its chairman, Andreas Illy, who has long-been a proponent, illycaffè has been a passionate advocate for virtuous (regenerative) agriculture in both the coffee industry, and in agriculture in general. The Trieste, Italy-based company aims to be carbon neutral by 2033. Recognising the need to increase consumer engagement in the necessity of supporting regenerative agriculture practices, illycaffè launched its #cupsidedown campaign, which was introduced in an Illy Art Collection this past October with the artist Matteo Attruia. The goal is to increase consumer awareness of the necessity of a circular economy, with virtuous agriculture being an essential piece of the puzzle.

“The upside-down cup, symbol of this campaign, has been designed to propose a change of perspective, a different way of living and observing our daily lives, starting from a natural gesture such as drinking an illy coffee, which must not be appreciated only for its taste but also for the value it generates for people and for the Planet,” explained Cristina Scocchia, CEO of illycaffè. “To amplify the positive impact it is necessary to stimulate a change of perspective, a new way of thinking about the use of resources that favour the transition from a linear economic model to a circular one. By working together, with a sense of responsibility, we can drive the transaction towards a sustainable future.”

Although regenerative agriculture is beginning to grow into various sectors, there are still several gaps across the supply chain. “It is still difficult to find farmers who have adopted regenerative practices,” said Ham, “We are very lucky to have partnered with a farmer who’s been doing it for over 30 years.” The tea for Wild Orchid is sourced from a wild tea farm on Jeju Island, where the the plot is nourished by volcanic organic soil.

ReGen Brands podcasters Kyle Krull and Anthony Corsaro labelled 2022 as the year regenerative agriculture took root. They emphasised that for regenerative brands to achieve success and, in turn, long-term sustainability, there needs to be a commitment to developing a regenerative market. They shared that there is a continued need for unified certification and standards to reduce consumer confusion. One recommendation they had was for the brands to work together to create a unified messaging strategy, including finding a way to define their values. Their 17 February podcast spoke with Abianne Falla, cofounder of CatSpring Yaupon, Cat Spring, Texas.

Falla’s company is highly diversified, selling sustainably wild grown yaupon as a wholesale and retail tisane and as an ingredient supplier for those seeking regeneratively grown Yaupon tea. “2011 was the driest year in Texas,” shared Falla on the podcast. “Everything was looking like wilted spinach, the only thing that wasn’t dying was Yaupon. We’ve always known the plant but had no idea that it was anything but a nuisance until this drought.” Yaupon Tea has 11 acres of certified regenerative organic yaupon, all of which are sustainably wild grown.

“Just like in other categories, the main driver for people to switch from the way that they’ve always done it comes from their philosophy,” said Ham. “If they understand that they can make their land better, make the soil better, grow a healthier crop and do it in a way that is sequestering carbon and reversing climate change, but in the end, it comes down to profitability.” Regenerative organic tea and coffee farms are still in their infancy, but the potential for a more resilient crop, resulting in higher yields, better quality products, and higher profits, are strong motivators to adopt these practices.

• Anne-Marie Hardie is a freelance writer, professor and speaker based in Barrie, Ontario. She may be reached at: annemariehardie1@gmail.com.

The post Net zero is no longer enough appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

Deforestation and forest degradation are major drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss. The goal of the new law – EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) – is to prevent a significant share of global deforestation and forest degradation, and in turn, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss.

On 8 February, the NCA (National Coffee Association of the USA) held a webinar, Supply Chain Due Diligence, to discuss the potential impact the EUDR will have on the US coffee industry. However, the webinar benefitted any coffee business in any country interested in importing or exporting coffee (or any of the aforementioned products — tea is not one of them) within the EU. The presenter, Anna Triponel, a lawyer and founder of Human Level, a London-based boutique human rights advisory firm, outlined aspects of the EUDR and discussed how legal expectations for businesses – involving human rights and climate change – are evolving based on the United Nations’ Guiding Principles.

“We are starting to see laws [and international standards] focusing on human rights and climate change,” she said. “Now risk management is not only risk to business but risk to people as well [because] it is clear that a severe risk to people is a risk to business.

Pursuant to the EUDR, Triponel said that businesses must carry out due diligence, which includes conducting risks assessments and mitigating identified risks; obtain geo-location coordinates from where commodities are sourced or harvested; and communicate publicly on actions taken to ensure compliance with the EUDR. She said that there will also be a central information system on companies (operators and traders) established in the EU, which is accessible to national and customs authorities and a benchmarking system that ranks countries as low, standard and high risk for deforestation.

Triponel noted that with the new law, the EU be a very different landscape for companies five years from now. “The EU does not want any goods that are affiliated with deforestation or degradation. Businesses cannot import these goods into the EU unless they can prove the goods are deforestation free.”

She further explained that there will be more focus on ensuring that companies are respecting Indigenous People’s rights and land rights, that is, was deforestation committed and were people’s rights/lands respected?

So where do we now stand? The European Parliament and the Council must formally adopt the new EUDR before it can be enforced. Once the new Regulation has been adopted, businesses (operators and traders) will have 18 months to implement the new rules. Small businesses will be granted a longer adaptation period and other specific provisions.

Triponel said that the EU Commission’s draft of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) from earlier this year sets out an obligation on companies to have a policy. During this ‘waiting period’, companies should be developing their due diligence policy. Triponel said there is text from the EU Parliament as well as the European Council that companies can build on when drafting their CSDDD policy.

In terms of due diligence obligations, the EUDR expects companies to take the following actions:

What: Products of the commodities included in the EUDR can only be placed on, or exported from, the EU if they meet the following requirements:

• Deforestation-free;
• Produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production; and
• Covered by a due diligence statement.

How:

• Compile and ensure access to information on the commodity, quantity, supplier, country of production. For example, companies can obtain the geographic coordinates of the plots of land where the commodities they place on the market were produced.
• Analyse and assess the risks of deforestation and/or forest degradation in the supply chain using the information collected; take adequate and proportionate mitigation measures to address risks.
• Consideration of applicable laws – in particular, human rights laws and Indigenous People’s rights laws.

Caveat: Level of due diligence depends on whether the country is deemed low, standard or high risk.

T&CTJ will continue to cover the adoption, implementation and impact of the EUDR on coffee businesses (as well as tea if it is added to the list of products subject to the new legislation).

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: vanessa@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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Carbon, and in turn, the carbon footprint, has been recognised as one of the leading causes of human-induced climate change. Over the past few decades, companies have shifted their infrastructures to reduce the negative impact, hoping to protect plants, waterways, and animals. However, when carbon is in the soil, it improves its ability to retain water and its overall fertility. So, the challenge is how do we get carbon out of the air and back into the earth? The solution is regenerative agriculture.

Bringing soil to the forefront

For decades, the climate change conversation centered around harm reduction with the goal of shifting agricultural practices to become carbon neutral. The challenge with this model is that it simply maintains the environment where it is today, which means that the current challenges plaguing the industry, including climate unpredictability, drought, and pest infestations, remain. Minimising harm is no longer enough to mitigate the risks of climate change; the environment needs to improve. Instead of adopting methods that will sustain, the focus needs to be repair and regeneration, beginning with adopting agricultural practices that will build healthy soil.

Regenerative farming begins with recognising soil’s role in the health of the planet and those living on it. “Conventional, which is the majority, this is where we have been, and sometimes it is where we are still stuck, but the method is destructive and unsustainable,” said Michael Ham, president, Well AP, Mt Kisco, New York. “Sustainable, which is achieving net zero, will maintain the status quo, but we need to reverse the damage that has been done and the only way to do that is through regenerative. This is where the focus needs to be in the next decade for us to really bring things back to where they should be. “Recognising the benefit, both for the earth and farm itself, Ham shared that their Korean tea farm Wild Orchard made the commitment to shift its practices from organic to regenerative. This past May, Wild Orchard obtained the Regenerative Organic Certification, becoming the first tea farm to receive this certification.

Curious deer traipsing through tea plants that are surrounded by other plants and wildflowers. Image: Wild Orchard

“Regenerative agriculture takes it one step further by focusing on the health of the soil,” said Ham. The model emphasises that soil requires living microbes to achieve its optimal health, which is obtained through various methods, including crop cover, minimising the amount of tillage, biodiversity, and intermittent grazing techniques, can grow nutrient-dense plants and reduce the amount of carbon in the environment.

In 2014, the Rodale Institute, Emmaus, Pennsylvania, released the white paper “Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change: A Down to Earth Solution to Global Warming,” urging the agricultural sector to consider the long-term impacts of its practices and to adopt regenerative methods. According to the Rodale Institute, most agricultural soil has lost between 30 to 75 per cent of its organic carbon. The loss has been linked to the atmosphere and conventional farming practices. Six years later, the Rodale Institute published “Regenerative Agriculture and the Soil Carbon Solution,” reiterating the harm in conventional practices, and urged the agricultural industry to adopt regenerative practices to build healthy soil, and in turn, reduce the levels of carbon in the atmosphere.

Dr Rattan Lal, director of carbon management and sequestration centre, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, and winner of the 2020 World Food Prize, has extensively studied soil health. He continues to emphasise the importance of protecting the soil, both for the health of the environment and to improve food security. He explained the interdependency between the health of soil and the health of the planet, stating that if the health of the soil goes down the health of everything else goes down with it.

Making the shift to regenerative practices

In November 2020, the World Coffee Research organisation invited both Dr Lal and Andrea Illy, chairman of illycaffè, Trieste, Italy, to discuss soil health, and more specifically regenerative agriculture and the need for the coffee industry to shift its farming practices to mitigate the risks of climate change. Over the last five years, several coffee and tea manufacturers have adapted their sustainability strategies to focus on regeneration and soil health. Starbucks launched a holistic sustainability project with a focus on regenerative agriculture in Nariño, Colombia, with 100 smallholder farmers. Nestlé committed to investing 1.3 billion dollars, over a five-year period, to aid farmers with the transition to regenerative practices.

illycaffè announced its goal of becoming a carbon-free company by 2033, including zero-emission coffee plantations in both Guatemala and Kokkere, Ethiopia, where the farmers are adopting the principles of regenerative agriculture. While Unilever released its five regenerative agriculture principles, which would serve as a model of standards that they would use to help educate suppliers and guide their farmers.

Tazo launched a regenerative organic tea line in August. Image: Tazo Tea

This past August, Tazo Tea (formerly owned by Unilever, now owned by ekaterra) launched a regenerative organic tea line made with ingredients grown with regenerative agriculture practices. The product launch included four Tazo original tea blends relaunched as regenerative organic blends. The commitment to becoming regenerative included not just the farms themselves but also a focus on developing resilient communities and replenishing the planet’s resources.

“Tazo has always been a brand that challenges the status quo, and this regenerative organic transition is no exception,” said Laraine Miller, president, ekaterra Americas, New York. “For too long, business as usual has been killing our planet. It is time for every company, including the entire tea industry, to overhaul their means of production to combat climate change and help people and planet thrive.”

The tea and coffee industries are taking action, adopting strategies that focus on regeneration, beginning with educating farmers on the importance of soil health and providing the resources that will support them with making this transition. However, the path to become regenerative, is still in its infancy. “Regenerative agriculture might be the new buzzword on the block, but the key aspect behind it to shift the focus of sustainable farming from ‘doing no harm’ towards delivering positive impact is urgent and garnering more corporate commitment,” said Piet van Asten, head sustainable production systems-coffee, Olam Food Ingredients (OFI), Singapore. “This momentum is proving powerful in driving efforts around decarbonisation and pesticide reduction.”

The message from both the tea and coffee communities is clear. Instead of sustaining, we need to reduce the amount of carbon in the environment, a term, called decarbonisation, and the adoption of regenerative practices provides a strategy to help achieve this goal.

For regenerative practices to be viable at the farm level, the strategies adopted need to be responsive to the particular needs of the farmer.

“From our experience, it’s important to present it to farmers as an extension of what they already do well, rather than as a requirement to change existing practices,” said Van Asten. “To encourage uptake, we need to go beyond the buzzwords by translating what ‘regenerative,’ ‘climate-smart’ or ‘agro-ecological’ practices mean on the ground in terms of better productivity and livelihoods.”

OFI strives to do this through education, including highlighting the benefits that some of these shifts, that may initially appear counterintuitive, like integrated weed management, can provide. For example, through education, the farmers begin to see soil erosion, recycle nutrients, and harbour natural predators to control insect pests. “Educating farmers and supporting them to meet demand by shifting to more eco-friendly production makes what might initially seem a daunting task, an economically viable route in the long-term,” said Van Asten.

From an economic standpoint, this model is being looked at for its potential in developing more resilient crops, and in turn, aiding with food security. However, converting to this model requires farmers to look at the entire process, from soil to the harvest, including both the short- and long-term outcome of each of the techniques that are used. Machine harvesting, for example, traditionally uses fossil fuel emitting these toxins into the environment, which in turn, enters the soil, and the plants. However, innovation in agrotech is looking at eco-friendly alternatives to respond to these challenges so that large scale farms have an option that will maintain their productivity without causing harm to the environment.

At Olam AtSource agronomist shows the benefits of a properly pruned coffee plant. Image: Vanessa L Facenda

Currently, the tea at the 1000-acre farm of Wild Orchard is hand-picked, however, the company is looking at investing in battery powered harvesting machines to pluck their second and third flushes of their crops. The hope is that by incorporating these types of tools into their operation will help accelerate the amount of regenerative tea that enters the supply chain.

The long-term benefits of regenerative agricultural practices continue to gain recognition throughout the tea and coffee industries. On a positive note, each shift that is made at the farm level, whether it is increasing biodiversity, integrated weed management, or maintaining cover crops, will help to feed the soil, and over time, reduce the amount of carbon that is emitted into the atmosphere. The launch of the regenerative organic alliance certification is a tool that will help increase consumer recognition of this agricultural model. However, now, it is up to the industry to share the positive actions that their companies are taking so that the products that are grown through the regenerative model receive both the recognition and the economic value that they deserve.

• Anne-Marie Hardie is a freelance writer, professor and speaker based in Barrie, Ontario. She may be reached at: annemariehardie1@gmail.com.

The post Rewriting the carbon story appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

“Numi’s new Carbon Footprint Label is our commitment to the planet and we believe it’s vital to share our carbon number with consumers,” said Reem Hassani, chief brand officer & co-founder of Numi. “We hope this big step for sustainability encourages other brands to follow our lead and commit to sharing their carbon footprint. The more of us that join this movement, the more context consumers will have when considering the environmental impact of their daily habits. Consumers are looking for a way to take action against climate change and we want to empower them with the information they need to do that.”

Numi worked with Planet FWD, the carbon management platform for consumer brands, to estimate an average product carbon footprint for all its teas and botanical products. In doing the study, Numi discovered that nearly half of a tea bag’s carbon footprint (46%) comes from boiling water. Consumers can reduce emissions by using an electric tea kettle, boiling only the amount of water they need, and opting for clean energy sources where available. Numi also found that its tea is preferable to coffee when it comes to carbon impact. The carbon footprint of a cup of Numi tea is 86% lower than a cup of conventional espresso and 37% lower than a cup of sustainably produced espresso.

Numi is a Climate Neutral Certified company, which means it measures, reduces and offsets 100% of annual Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. To identify the best opportunities for reduction, Numi uses its greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory to prioritise action based on the greatest emissions sources throughout the supply chain. Numi’s tea is carbon negative at the farm level because of regenerative practices like no-till farming, cover cropping, perennial planting, and agroforestry. From working with producers to explore renewable energy options to reducing corrugate in shipping to using plant-based packaging, Numi works to reduce operational emissions across the lifecycle of a Numi teabag. And now consumers can have a view into the impact that work is having on the company’s GHG emissions and the “carbon cost” for a cup of tea.

For the last 10 years, Numi has worked with CarbonFund to offset 10,191 metric tonnes of CO2e from business operations. Since 2018, it has purchased credits from the Envira Amazonia project in Brazil, which supports a transition in land ownership to local communities and establishes alternatives to cattle ranching. Funding from the carbon offsets supports education, livelihood diversification and a health clinic. The project has protected nearly 500,000 acres of tropical rainforest to date.

Numi announced its new Carbon Footprint Label at Natural Products Expo West 2022 where the new carbon footprint label can be viewed by visiting Numi at booth N1645. Numi vice president, strategic sourcing & sustainability, Jane Franch will be discussing Packaging Policies for the Future 10 March at 3 pm.

To learn more about Numi’s Carbon Footprint Label, visit numitea.com/climate.

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“Research, training, and technical support are the foundations of any strong agricultural system,” says Dr. Jessica Shade, director of Science Programs for The Organic Center. “Despite continuously increasing demand for organic products, however, funding for organic research and extension continues to lag. This collaboration with FFAR will be a game changer for organic agriculture, matching support dollar-for-dollar for selected projects that help expand critical research on climate and expand information transfer to farmers.”

“Climate change mitigation is an all-hands on deck effort that affects us all, and it is critical that we act urgently to fund research that increases farmer resiliency and protects our future global food supply,” says FFAR executive director Dr Sally Rockey. “We are thrilled to partner with The Organic Center to fund research and extension projects that will spur innovation in organic agriculture, advance climate change resiliency and support thriving farms.”

Priority areas for research and extension projects were identified through a robust outreach campaign that began in 2019 at an Organic Research Consortium Convening event co-organized by The Organic Center and FFAR. Over the course of the following year, the two organizations engaged a diverse cadre of thought leaders, farmers, researchers, and policy makers in robust debate around the needs of the industry. Selected priorities strike a balance between sector growth, human capital and equity, and environmental stewardship.

The Organic Training for Agricultural Professionals Prize will award up to $300,000 per year to programmes showing the greatest success in training agronomic groups and professionals in organic practices. Funding will be provided for one year, with the potential to extend for a maximum of three years. Pre applications opened on 13 December and will close on 28 January 2022. Programmes are required to provide matching funds for this prize.

The 2022 Organic Center-FFAR joint Organic Research Program will award grants of up to $200,000 per applicant for projects ranging between one and three years. Matching funds are not required for this project. Successful projects will focus on organic techniques for improving mitigation and resiliency to climate change, with a priority on systems-based approaches and a commitment to cross-sector partnerships. Pre applications opened on 13 December and will close on 28 January 2022.

“This much-needed investment is an incredible opportunity to help shape the future of organic agriculture,” says Shade. “Through our collaboration with FFAR, we’ll be able to double the current amount of private investment in organic research and extension. We can’t wait to start reviewing and supporting what are sure to be some truly groundbreaking proposals.”

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However, Fairtrade states that climate measures that exclude fairness and social justice from the core of their targets are measures that will once again fail to achieve real climate action.

Inequality, biodiversity loss, and the impacts of climate change are interconnected issues for the millions of smallholder families whose livelihoods depend on cocoa and coffee exports to the EU.

The new European Commission proposal to ban imports does provide market incentives for climate actions. But, Fairtrade comments, unless those incentives are accompanied by additional efforts addressing the structural injustices and systemic inequities that afflict struggling smallholder farmers, then the proposal will prove wholly inadequate. Simply put: deforestation will not be addressed by banning imports of cocoa and coffee from smallholder families living in poverty.

In its statement, Fairtrade further emphasises that “A just transition to deforestation-free production must be inclusive, incorporating pathways to living income and more equal value distribution for cocoa and coffee farmers and their families. Above all, the fight against deforestation must empower smallholder farmers and include them in the process of constructive climate action.

“Capacity will need to be built and systems put in place to enable smallholders’ cooperatives to play their role in providing assurance and retain the market access to the EU that enables their smallholder farmer members to feed their families. The efforts needed to ensure a just transition for smallholders are significant and will require investment, dialogue, and a sense of urgency from governments and businesses alike.”

Fairtrade says it looks forward to engaging with the EU in designing that just transition, facilitating an urgent dialogue with smallholder farmers, and working towards a greener future that embraces sustainable production, climate resilience and decent livelihoods for all.

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On Wednesday 4 August 2021, Sanapo will depart on his bike at the break of dawn, from his city of adoption – Florence – to embark on the Italian Coffee Tour, a huge promotional trip which will take him from Tuscany to Apulia, as well as Umbria, Marche and Abruzzo. The goal: to raise awareness on environmental themes, in order to save coffee. To accomplish it, Sanapo on every leg of his tour will meet with several key players of the business and the institutions who will be welcomed by a specialty coffee, a different one on each and every stop, coming from small plantations, prepared by Francesco with his very own french press.

“It’s a challenge with myself, I want to recount specialty coffee in squares and places where it is not so present by combining my two biggest passions, coffee and bikes”, said Sanapo.

Italian Coffee Tour is sponsored by Confcommercio Firenze, Fipe (the italian federation of public enterprises adhering to Confcommercio); Hario, a leading company in brewing tools, world renowned for the beauty and the absolute precision and functionality of its machines for alternative brewing methods; Pissei, a company specialised in technical cycling clothing with a captivating design, and Rolling Dreamers who create tailor made experiences for cycling enthusiasts and who prepared Sanapo ‘mentally and physically’ for the ride, as declared by the coffee lover himself.

Sanapo’s cycling challenge will start on 4 August at 6am from piazza Sant’Ambrogio in Florence, where Sanapo recently opened the new Ditta Artigianale Carducci & Hario Cafè, where a meeting with Aldo Cursano, president of Fipe Toscana and Confcommercio Firenze, is scheduled in the former monastery: here in September the Coffee Academy will open its doors, an international project which aims to educate field professionals as well as coffee lovers in terms of production and taste, in collaboration with Confcommercio. The first stop will take place in Arezzo, in the historical Caffè dei Costanti in San Francesco square around 10.30am to taste a great coffee with Francesco Marinoni, general manager of Confcommercio Toscana. After that, Sanapo will be back in the saddle again to reach Anghiari and traverse Valtiberina, crossing the border with Umbria in the late afternoon, just in time to spend the night in Città di Castello, where a meeting with major Luciano Bacchetta, and several others who will be revealed on a later date, have been arranged. The next day he will hop on his bike again to reach the Marche region where he will stop in Ancona (where he will be greeted by Cosimo Libardo, italian member of the Specialty Coffee Association board), Civitanova and San Benedetto del Tronto. Later, moving along the adriatic coast, he will traverse Abruzzo to stop in Giulianova and Pescara before finally reaching Apulia, with scheduled stops in Bari, Ostuni and Lecce. This tour of almost half of the country will reach an end in the salentine village of Specchia, Sanapo’s home town.

“We are facing the possibility of losing the pleasure of a cup of coffee, one of the most traditional and consolidated habits of our Italy”, explains Francesco Sanapo, “sadly, due to global warming, the ozone hole, the destruction of forests and the honeybee blight, before 2050 the lands where these precious beans are cultivated may no longer bear fruit. For this reason, I decided to do something real and concrete by combining my two big passions, coffee and bikes, for a thousand kilometers trip that will take me around six italian regions to speak about coffee and climate change, firmly believing that each and everyone of us can make a difference starting from small daily acts done in new, ecological and sustainable ways.”

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For decades, Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities nationwide have been disproportionately impacted by the negative effects of climate change. In fact, some neighbourhoods can be five to 20 degrees hotter than predominantly white neighbourhoods in the same city. Environmental inequities are so pervasive in low-income communities and communities of colour that environmental experts have used the term “sacrifice zones” to describe areas that carry a greater burden of air, land, and water pollution and warmer temperatures because they are situated near chemical treatment plants, highways, or heavy polluters.

“The climate crisis is no longer a future problem – it’s here now and BIPOC communities are disproportionately at risk,” said Laraine Miller, president, Unilever Tea Americas.“As a brand rooted in challenging the status quo, we believe we have a role to play in fighting for a sustainable and equitable future, which is why TAZO is announcing the first steps of along-term purpose ambition to fight for climate justice. Climate change is not only an environmental issue, but also a human rights issue, so we’re getting started by focusing on the racial injustices that must be addressed to make meaningful progress within the climate crisis.”

The TAZO Tree Corps will be a paid cohort of 25 locally hired fellows employed by The Davey Tree Expert Company who will receive training in climate justice advocacy as well as tree planting and maintenance. They will work over the next two years to achieve measurable Tree Equity in five cities – Minneapolis, MN; Detroit, MI; the San Francisco Bay Area, CA; Richmond, VA and The Bronx, NY– where historical discriminating zoning practices have left many low-income communities and communities of colour with less green space. Tree Equity, a term coined by American Forests, means all communities, regardless of income or race, can experience the benefits trees provide.

Aerial of an urban forest. Photo courtesy of American Forests

“Across the country, BIPOC communities are facing the worst effects of climate change because they live in neighbourhoods that are disproportionately burdened with more pollutants and fewer trees,” said SZA. “Planting trees can help improve everything – from air quality to economic opportunity to mental health – and everybody deserves these benefits. I’m proud to partner with TAZO and American Forests to stand up for environmental justice and start making an impact in neighbourhoods that need it the most.”

“Trees do more than beautify a neighbourhood – they’re life-and-death infrastructure for health equity and climate justice,” said Jad Daley, president and CEO of American Forests. “Trees can transform neighbourhoods and lives, and every person needs this healing power, regardless of income, race or location. But achieving Tree Equity is about more than just planting trees. The TAZO Tree Corps will help us turn this work into new economic opportunity for people in these disproportionately impacted communities. That is our full vision for Tree Equity.”

Additionally, TAZO is working with sustainability consulting firm Pure Strategies to conduct an environmental and social impact audit of its business – from evaluating workers’ rights in the regions where the brand sources its 50+ globally grown ingredients, to understanding the carbon footprint of its products, and more.

To expand the brand’s environmental justice commitments, TAZO has also committed to support WE ACT for Environmental Justice and Intersectional Environmentalist, two BIPOC-led climate justice organisations that provide economic opportunities, education, resources, community and training for BIPOC youth.

TAZO, SZA and American Forests encourage those eligible to apply to the TAZO Tree Corps by visiting TAZO.com/TreeCorps. To learn more about the company’s pursuit to measure Tree Equity with American Forests and TAZO’s commitments to climate justice, head to TAZO.com and AmericanForests.org/About-Us/TAZO.

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To drive the immediate and urgent individual and collaborative efforts needed to meet this 2050 goal, members of the Challenge announced the following targets for 2025:

• Restore 1.5 million hectares of tree cover and protect 500,000 hectares of forest, securing 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide;
• Meet the growing global demand for coffee by increasing smallholder production by 7% (11.9 million bags) through renovation, rehabilitation and investments on existing farms;
• Fully protect the labour rights and wellbeing of coffee workers and establish living income and wage benchmarks in at least 80% of ICO member producing countries and initiate public-private interventions to close and surpass living income and wage gaps;
• Ensure that at least 50% of global coffee purchased by roasters and retailers is sourced according to sustainable practices that protect the labour rights of farmers and workers, conserve natural resources and provide benefits back to communities where coffee is produced.

The goals and 2025 targets were agreed to at a virtual gathering of the Challenge’s members, held on Monday 7 December 2020.

“With nearly 160 members from across the coffee sector, the Sustainable Coffee Challenge is uniquely positioned to work together to achieving coffee’s enormous potential to provide livelihoods for millions, help stabilise the climate, and help engage billions of coffee consumers in the quest for a more sustainable future,” said Bambi Semroc, acting senior vice president, Center for Sustainable Lands and Waters, Conservation International.

To meet growing global demand, coffee production is expected to double by 2050. Without improving growing practices, that could mean the destruction of millions of hectares of carbon-rich forests to make room for coffee crops. However, if grown sustainably, coffee could instead serve as a “natural climate solution” says Shyla Raghav, Conservation International’s vice president of Climate Solutions. According to research led by Conservation International’s Bronson Griscom, these solutions, which include the protection, restoration and improved land management of carbon-rich landscapes, could deliver at least 30% of emissions reductions needed by 2030 to avert climate breakdown.

“The coffee sector has a choice to make, to either be a driver of the climate crisis – or serve as a climate solution. Coffee is produced in landscapes that, if more sustainably and effectively managed, can actually sequester carbon. By optimizing the production of coffee, we build a more resilient and secure future for us all,” said Raghav.

Yet achieving this potential will remain elusive without also improving the livelihoods and well-being of coffee farmers – an effort that is central to the work of the Challenge. “Farmers must first be able to provide for themselves and their families,” said Semroc. “Otherwise, labour abuses and unsustainable practices will continue.”

“We are setting an ambitious goal so farm workers in coffee can receive a living wage,” said Miguel Zamora, director of Markets Transformation at the Rainforest Alliance in a recorded message to the Challenge’s virtual gathering. “All coffee families should have access to healthy food, clean water, decent housing, education for their children and access to health care. We all deserve the chance to thrive from coffee.”

In joining the Challenge, partners commit to contributing in four action networks: sustainable sourcing; resilient coffee supply; farmer and worker well-being and prosperity and forest and climate.

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This follows last month’s news that Coca-Cola HBC has been rated Europe’s most sustainable beverage company for the seventh time in eight years by the 2020 Dow Jones Sustainability Index, with its highest ever score.

Marcel Martin, group supply chain director, said: “Being recognised as a CDP ‘A List’ member reflects the significant and demonstrable action we are taking to tackle climate change and safeguard access to water, especially in water risk areas. We believe that building a more positive environmental impact is integral to our future growth and although there is more to do, this recognition tells us that we are heading in the right direction.”

Only 1% of the more than 5,800 companies that submitted data to CDP in 2020 achieved a double ‘A’ score.

This result and the Dow Jones Sustainability ranking build on the recognition for Coca-Cola HBC’s performance from other respected sustainability surveys and indexes such as MSCI ESG, FTSE Russell ESG and ISS-Oekom.

The full list of companies that made this year’s CDP A List is available here, along with other publicly available company scores: https://www.cdp.net/en/companies/companies-scores.

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