Bambi Semroc: “There is an urgent need, and a compelling opportunity, for the coffee industry to take the lead."
The largest coffee companies in the world fail to report transparently on their commitments and do too little to ensure sustainability for farming and farmers. These are among the findings of the new Coffee Barometer – the latest report from a collective of organizations in the sustainability field: Conservation International, Hivos, Oxfam Belgium, and Solidaridad. The report comes from Ethos Agriculture.
The report shows that 15 of the major traders and roasters are not contributing meaningfully to key UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) that would improve livelihoods and conserve nature, and transparency is still lacking across production, trade, and consumption. While some companies have comprehensive policies in place, many large traders and roasters mentioned in the report remain unclear about their commitments or any progress on commitments, and they lack a comprehensive sustainability strategy with measurable targets over time. “No one is doing enough,” the authors of the report claim.
“Big coffee companies need to actually prove their supply chains are free from human rights violations and deforestation, and that they are investing in higher farmer income, better labor standards, and climate change adaptation,” said Stefaan Calmeyn, coffee program manager for Oxfam Belgium. “Policies are not enough; if you want us to believe you’re doing good, you have to show it.”
“We have 10 years to meet SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement,” said Bambi Semroc, vice president of sustainable markets and strategy for Conservation International. “There is an urgent need, and a compelling opportunity, for the coffee industry to take the lead, drive investments to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, and find solutions that benefit people, nature, and coffee in producing landscapes.”
Behind many of coffee’s problems are stubbornly low coffee prices for farmers. This is in stark contrast to the billions made from coffee consumption, which are highly concentrated in the US and Europe. Farmers are also unable to invest in their farm or make production more sustainable – which is essential if they are to adapt to climate change.
“There is general awareness in the coffee sector that we are way off track to meet even the most basic economic, social, and environmental goals,” said Sjoerd Panhuysen, a researcher at Ethos Agriculture. “Companies’ sustainability activities tend to focus on the expansion of coffee production at the farm level. Even if some specific gains are made, they are never sufficient to transform the sector at large.”
The Coffee Barometer calls actors in the industry to step up. All the major billion-dollar coffee corporations are part of one or more partnership initiatives with the potential to influence the global governance of sustainability policies and agreements. With some traders and roasters publicly asking for mandatory sustainability regulations, they have the opportunity now to get ahead of the curve and use these partnerships to achieve real impact.
If more of the value generated from coffee is to get into the hands of coffee farmers, then multi-stakeholder initiatives need binding commitments, robust mechanisms that confirm progress in the field, and more than shoestring budgets so we can see this concrete impact being delivered.