Starbucks has worked with Conservation International for more than a decade to help ensure coffee is produced in keeping with the company’s commitment to doing business responsibly. Our newest efforts together extend far beyond the coffee shop to the rich landscapes that surround and nurture the most important coffee-growing regions in the world.
Today, threats to these landscapes and the ecosystem services provided by them – like coffee beans – are exacerbated by climate change, as rising global temperatures alter soil, rain, and other conditions.
Starbucks investment in and support for local coffee growers and the people that help keep forests intact will help ensure that every cup of coffee they brew produces tangible benefits for both local and global communities.
We are hard at work on an in-depth assessment of how effective Starbucks ethical coffee sourcing guidelines – called Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices – have been thus far at driving the adoption of environmentally, socially, and economically responsible coffee buying practices within the Starbucks coffee supply chain.
DOWNLOAD: Executive Summary of Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices Assessment.
In 2003, CI and Starbucks joined forces to design Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices to guide Starbucks coffee purchases and support conservation at a new scale. They also further the company's commitment to making a positive difference in the lives of farmers and their communities.
These guidelines are the foundation for the Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ commitment to ethical sourcing.
CI and Starbucks continue to collaborate to demonstrate that coffee can be grown in ways that support communities and preserve the environment. Through this next phase of our partnership, Starbucks builds upon its leadership in sustainable sourcing to promote the protection of forests as a solution to climate change
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More than 20% of all carbon dioxide emissions come from the burning and clearning of forests. Protecting forests – part of nature's brilliant operating system – is an essential first response to climate change.
Starbucks' coffee-growing regions are home to the richest and most unique biodiversity on the planet. These regions are also the most vulnerable to climate change. We know them as the hotspots.
Saving forests is one of the most effective solutions to climate change. Calculate your carbon emissions and balance your impact using our new-and-improved interactive tool.
Coffee beans naturally thrive beneath a tropical forest canopy – not on clear-cut land that’s exposed to the sun – and so can the farmers who grow them.
Since 1998, we have pioneered responsible coffee production practices, with fair compensation and safe working conditions for farmers, to demonstrate that a company can help protect biodiversity through shade-grown coffee.