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A small number of large companies dominate the coffee industry: in 2020, the Coffee Barometer report found that 10 multinational roasters are responsible for 35% of all green coffee purchases.
According to the Global Coffee Platform (GCP), these large companies are buying more sustainably sourced coffee each year. Since 2018, GCP has gathered voluntary purchasing data from multinational roasters. In 2021, 55% of purchases met some sustainability standard; in the most recent report, that number rose to 75%.
The 2024 report featured data from 11 major roasters—JDE Peet’s, Julius Meinl, Keurig Dr Pepper, Melitta Group, Mother Parkers, Nestlé, Supracafé, Taylors of Harrogate, TESCO, UCC, and Westrock Coffee Company—up from eight in 2021.
Together, the 11 companies purchased around 38.4 million 60-kilo bags of green coffee, 29 million of which GCP considered sustainable. Those sustainable purchases equaled 21% of all global green coffee exports in 2023/24, GCP reported.
But what makes a coffee sustainable? GCP recognizes several programs that meet its baseline for sustainability practices. These include third-party certifications such as Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance, as well as an increasing number of in-house schemes from companies like Nespresso and Neumann Kaffee Gruppe.
The total number of GCP-recognized sustainability initiatives rose from 12 in 2021 to 26 last year, with the majority being private programs. In 2023, the Coffee Barometer reported that “little detail is known about the specific sustainability strategies of the major coffee roasters.”
The Coffee Barometer’s Coffee Brew Index, which assessed the various companies’ sustainability schemes, found that many were “characterized by a lack of transparency, adequate funding, and fair compensation for the sustainable endeavors of small-scale farmers.”
“As a coffee community, we must keep evaluating the positive impact our investments and actions have on farmers and the environment,” said GCP executive director Annette Pensel in an announcement. Pensel also applauded the companies involved and encouraged more to participate in future reports. “Now is the time to enhance collaboration to further align our measurement and investment efforts.”
Read the full story on the sustainability sales from Daily Coffee News here.
