Approximately 55% of the green coffee purchased by eight of the world’s largest coffee roasting and retail companies met the Global Coffee Platform’s Baseline Coffee Code in 2021
The total amount of green coffee purchased by the reporting companies for the period was 2.2m tons | Photo credit: Clint McKoy
The Global Coffee Platform has reported that eight of the coffee industry’s leading roasters and retailers increased their sustainable coffee purchases last year.
The GCP Snapshot 2021 report provides insights into the sustainable coffee purchases of JDE Peet’s, Melitta Group, Keurig Dr Pepper, Nestlé, Strauss Coffee, SUPRACAFÉ, Tesco and Westrock Coffee.
According to the Global Coffee Platform, the companies involved provide ‘leadership, actions and impact to foster increased production and consumption of sustainable coffees’.
Sustainable coffee purchases by the companies grew to 55% in 2021, reaching 1.2m tons. This represents a 29% increase compared to 2020 and is attributed to two companies sharing data in 2021 that were not included in the previous year’s tally.
The total amount of green coffee purchased by the reporting companies for the period was 2.2m tons.
To count as a sustainable coffee purchase, the Global Coffee Platform considers transactions against its Baseline Coffee Code, which includes purchases made in conjunction with sustainability schemes such as Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance/UTZ, Certifica Minas and Enveritas Gold.
According to the Global Coffee Platform, 99% of US beverage company Keurig Dr Pepper’s 126,104 tons of purchased green coffee met the sustainability criteria, followed by 82% of Swiss food and beverage giant Nestlé’s 986,980 tons.
100% of UK supermarket retailer Tesco’s 6,836 tons of green coffee met the criteria.
“While important work is underway, even bolder individual and collaborative efforts are needed to achieve transformational change that results in economic viability of sustainable coffee farming and a living income for producers and workers while preserving nature and addressing climate change, effectively,” said Annette Pensel, Executive Director, Global Coffee Platform.
Based in Bonn, Germany, the Global Coffee Platform was formed in March 2016 to collectively work towards a more sustainable coffee industry. The first GCP Snapshot report was released in 2018.