Sustainable Coffee Challenge Adds Seven New Partners, Topping 160 Total

The new partners collectively work across five continents

Arlington, VA (August 23, 2021) – Today, the Sustainable Coffee Challenge welcomed seven new partners to its robust network. Each has committed to making coffee the world’s first sustainable agricultural product by 2050 for coffee growers, distributers and consumers worldwide. 

The Challenge now totals over 160 partners – corporations, governments, NGOs and research organizations – making it the largest multi-stakeholder initiative in coffee sustainability. The newest seven partners are:

• Leading global merchant and processor of agricultural goods Louis Dreyfus Company is ensuring that 70% of coffee purchased by 2025 will come from suppliers following its sustainable coffee standards, 20% of which will also be traced to farm-level
• Bulk product wholesaler Boxed is positioning its Prince & Spring coffee collection to support the company’s Premium Community Development Funds used to benefit farmers’ communities
• Middle Eastern roaster Café Najjar is working to ensure that 100% of its RAQWA green coffee is purchased from sustainable sources in Brazil and Ethiopia by 2025
• Agri-Fintech mobile app iFinca is advocating for transparency in farm-gate price disclosures worldwide to better track equity and sustainability in the coffee supply chain
• Coffee education provider Bay Coffee and Tea Company is developing sustainable distribution channels, messaging and internships in partnership with large food/bev companies, and will build on its wholesale coffee work with the Mesoamerican Development Institute
• Footprint reduction consultancy Climate Neutral Group, with its Climate Neutral Certification standard, is targeting coffee farms, markets and supply chains to remove or sequester 1 million+ tons of CO2eq from coffee production by 2025
• Smallholder advocate Progreso Foundation is contributing to a sustainable coffee value chain through their online coffee trading platform (Beyco), providing producer organizations with trade finance and technical assistance

“Global and sector-wide collaboration has been essential to sustaining coffee in light of existing challenges – climate variability, aging trees and farmers and volatile markets. With the shadow of the pandemic still looming, unprecedented collective action across the sector is more important than ever,” said Raina Lang, Senior Director of Sustainable Coffee at Conservation International’s Center for Sustainable Lands and Waters. “We’re excited to add these seven new partners who collectively represent all sides of the coffee sector, from farm to cup.”

The Sustainable Coffee Challenge, conceived by Conservation International and Starbucks and launched during the Paris climate meetings in 2015, unites players from across the coffee industry to stimulate greater demand for sustainable coffee.

In joining the Challenge, partners commit to four action networks: sustainable sourcing; resilient supply; farmer and worker well-being and prosperity; and forest and climate. The Challenge network has made more than 130 commitments to date across over a dozen topic areas, ranging from water access to consumer education. All commitments fall within the Sustainable Coffee Challenge’s 2050 timeline with interim 2025 targets.

Join the effort by making a commitment to sustainable coffee actions here, or join as a Sustainable Coffee Challenge partner here.

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About Conservation International

Conservation International works to protect the critical benefits that nature provides to people. Through science, partnerships and fieldwork, Conservation International is driving innovation and investments in nature-based solutions to the climate crisis, supporting protections for critical habitats, and fostering economic development that is grounded in the conservation of nature. Conservation International works in 30 countries around the world, empowering societies at all levels to create a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable planet. Follow Conservation International's work on Conservation News, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

About the Sustainable Coffee Challenge

The Sustainable Coffee Challenge convenes, unites and urges the coffee sector and conservation partners across the industry to spur the actions and investments necessary to make coffee the first sustainable agriculture product in the world. The Challenge is committed to stimulating demand for sustainable coffee across the value chain, from the policymaking level to the final consumer. By encouraging demand for sustainable coffee, it leads to investments that enable the transition to a sustainable production and ensuring the coffee we drink is a sustainable product.