Following a vote on 14 November in Brussels, Belgium, the European Parliament confirmed to delay implementing the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) –a plan that was already endorsed by the Council of Ministers – until December 2025.

Adopted on 19 April 2023 and initially due to be enforced on 30 December 2024, the EUDR proposes to ban the export of products associated with deforestation, such as coffee beans, cocoa beans, soya, cattle, rubber, palm oil, and wood. The law also applies to European farmers.

Third countries, member states, operators and traders will have more time to prepare for the due diligence obligations imposed by the EUDR. Large operators and traders would have to adhere to the requirements stemming from the EUDR as of 30 December 2025, whereas micro- and small enterprises would have until 30 June 2026. In a statement released by the European Parliament, “this additional time would help operators around the world to implement the rules smoothly from the start without undermining the objectives of the law.”

Parliament also adopted other amendments proposed by the political groups such as the European People’s Party (EPP), including the creation of a new category of countries posing “no risk” on deforestation in addition to the existing three categories of “low”, “standard” and “high” risk. Countries classified as “no risk”, defined as countries with stable or increasing forest area development, would face significantly less stringent requirements as there is a negligible or non-existent risk of deforestation. The Commission will have to finalise a country-benchmarking system by 30 June 2025.

Multiple proponents of the EUDR have called out the move. In a statement on LinkedIn, Rainforest Alliance said the no-risk category would be “a death sentence to the EUDR.”

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued a statement saying, “The European Parliament, driven by the European People’s Party (EPP), voted for amendments to substantially weaken the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) de facto deregulating and undermining one of the EU’s landmark environmental laws. By introducing a category of “no risk” countries, the EPP and its allies have effectively voted to enable further forest destruction both within and outside of Europe. The move undermines the efforts of forward-thinking companies that have invested in deforestation-free supply chains to comply with EUDR requirements in time for its application on 30 December 2024.”

Parliament is now referring this file back to committee for interinstitutional negotiations. In order for these changes to enter into force, the agreed text will have to be endorsed by both Council and Parliament and published in the EU Official Journal.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 420 million hectares of forest – an area larger than the EU – were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. EU consumption represents around 10% of global deforestation. Palm oil and soya beans account for more than two-thirds of this. — Vanessa L Facenda

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The fresh new flavour debuting this holiday season in energy drinks and espresso shakers is cranberry. The Cranberry Energy with Coconut Milk Cold Foam offers a refreshing boost with tart cranberry flavours, complemented by the creamy texture of non-dairy coconut milk cold foam. For a bolder option, the Cranberry Dark Chocolate Espresso Shaker features rich espresso combined with dark chocolate and cranberry, offering a unique and indulgent holiday twist.

Returning fan favourites include the rich Ho Ho Mint Mocha and Spicy Mocha, alongside the crowd-pleasing Vanilla Oat Nog Latte and Vanilla Oat Nog Crafted Press. Following their successful launch last year, Caribou is excited to bring back the Vanilla Oat Nog Latte and Vanilla Oat Nog Crafted Press for a non-dairy twist on traditional egg nog. Made with creamy, vegan-friendly, non-dairy oat nog, these beverages provide a delicious alternative for those seeking plant-based options this season.

“We’re thrilled to introduce something new and exciting this holiday season that reflects Caribou Coffee’s commitment to industry-leading innovation and quality,” said Matt Reiter, senior vice president of product and procurement at Caribou Coffee. “This year, we’ve seen great success with seasonal offerings, from the honey Lavender Espresso Shaker in spring, to our refreshing Honeycrisp Apple Energy Drink in autumun. Building on that momentum, we’re excited to add cranberry to our popular energy drink and espresso shaker platforms, bringing a quintessential holiday flavour to our menu. We’re confident the new additions, alongside our beloved classics, will make this season even more special for our guests.”

Guests can customize a drink of their liking from a wide range of preparation options available only at Caribou, including its signature Crafted Press. Caribou Coffee’s 2024 holiday menu includes:

• New Cranberry Dark Chocolate Espresso Shaker: cranberry, dark chocolate and fresh espresso shaken with ice and topped with a splash of oat milk.
• New Cranberry Energy Drink with Coconut Milk Cold Foam: sparkling cranberry energy drink, available in original or lemonade flavour; topped with coconut milk cold foam.
• Ho Ho Mint Mocha: real white chocolate melted into steamed milk and combined with espresso and mint flavour. Topped with whipped cream and peppermints. Also available iced, blended, nitro and crafted press.
• Ho Ho Mint Mocha Espresso Shaker: fresh espresso shaken with mint flavour, white chocolate sauce, and ice topped with a splash of oat milk.
• Vanilla Oat Nog Latte: Espresso with Vanilla Flavour and steamed oat nog and topped with ground nutmeg. Also available iced.
• Vanilla Oat Nog Crafted Press: cold-brewed coffee with a splash of oat nog and real sugar with a hint of vanilla. Also available iced or blended.
• Spicy Mocha: chocolate melted into steamed milk and combined with espresso and flavours of ancho and chipotle peppers and topped with whipped cream and chocolate chips. Also available iced, blended or nitro.

Holiday food and beverages are available for a limited time, while supplies last at participating U.S. locations.

Coffee fans can look forward to the return of reindeer blend and bold north blend—both 100% Rainforest Alliance Certified, like all Caribou’s coffee. Reindeer Blend, a dark roast beloved by many, offers a balanced blend with berry fruit and sweet notes in a rich Sumatra base flavour. Reindeer Blend is available in ground and whole bean packages and K-Cup pods at Caribou Coffee locations, CaribouCoffee.com and in select retail partners nationwide. Water-processed whole bean Decaf Reindeer Blend is also available at Caribou Coffee locations and CaribouCoffee.com. Bold North Blend, another seasonal dark roast, features notes of warm caramel and barrel oak. It will be available ground in pre packaged bags exclusively at Caribou Coffee locations and CaribouCoffee.com.

With the addition of seasonal packaged coffees, comes the return of new festive merchandise, available in select stores and online. These holiday giftable items include stainless steel tumblers, ceramic holiday mugs, ornaments and more. Grab-n-go items are also available for stocking stuffers including holiday dark chocolate covered espresso beans, holiday pretzel rods, and Santa and snowman cookies.

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The vast majority of the world’s 12.5 million coffee farms are run by smallholder farmers; in fact, almost three-fourths of the world’s coffee comes from small farms. Yet, if nothing is done to tackle the exacerbating issues faced by these farmers – such as climate change and low and unstable incomes – 50 percent of the regions suitable for coffee farming could disappear by 2050. As a result, farmers may resort to expanding into forested areas in their struggle to sustain and increase agricultural output, leading to further deforestation.

The Rainforest Alliance strongly believes that the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), due to come into effect on 30 December 2024, is an important step forward in the global fight against deforestation and forest degradation linked to the production of several high-risk commodities, including coffee.

However, as companies race towards EUDR compliance, we are seeing the very real risk of companies only meeting the minimum requirements and neglecting their responsibility to support farmers and address systemic poverty – a major contributor to deforestation. To address this, it is crucial that more value finds its way from companies to smallholders, who are vital to global food supply chains. This is why the role of certification has never been more important for the coffee sector.

Challenges faced by smallholder coffee farmers

In our work over the last 36 years, we’ve seen that smallholder farmers often lack the financial resources and technical expertise needed for better farm management, traceability, and accountability, such as GPS mapping. This further exacerbates the challenges they face, creating a barrier for producers who lack access to such tools.

EUDR compliance requires providing GPS points or polygons, which can overwhelm smallholder farmers operating in remote or rural areas with limited infrastructure. Without the required support, they are at a disadvantage compared to larger, more resourced competitors which also risks marginalising them from lucrative European markets.

The cumulative effect of these challenges underscores the need for support mechanisms, such as financial assistance, training programmes, and infrastructure development, to help smallholder farmers align with EUDR requirements and remain competitive in the global market.

Certifications: bridging regulatory requirements and sustainable agriculture

Certification acts as a bridge between regulatory demands and the transition towards more sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices. It provides a structured framework for coffee grown and harvested in ways that aim to protect forests and support local communities, through:

• Credibility and assurance: Recognised programmes (like Rainforest Alliance certification) provide a credible stamp, assuring brands, regulators and consumers that certified coffee aligns with a strict set of social, economic and environmental sustainability standards.
• Traceability: Certification processes often include robust traceability mechanisms, allowing companies to track their coffee’s journey from farm to cup. This traceability is crucial for EUDR compliance, ensuring products are deforestation-free.
• Sustainable agriculture: At the heart of certification is the promotion of sustainable farming practices beyond addressing deforestation, including climate resilience, improved livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, protection and advancement of human rights, business training, and compliance with local laws. This holistic approach aligns with the broader goals of the EUDR by addressing some of the root causes of deforestation.

For the coffee sector, embracing certification is not just a strategic move – it is an essential step towards ensuring that every cup of coffee contributes to positive change for both farmers and nature.

• Miguel Gamboa is coffee sector lead at the Rainforest Alliance and is based in Guatemala. He trained as an industrial engineer with Masters in Reengineering and International Trade. Gamboa started his professional career working in a coffee exporting company. Twenty years ago, he started working with the UTZ certification programme, learning about the different realities of coffee production throughout Latin America. After the merger of UTZ and the Rainforest Alliance, Gamboa was appointed coffee representative manager for Latin America, and assumed his current position in September 2022. With 37 years of experience in tackling deforestation in global supply chains, the Rainforest Alliance’s systems can help certified coffee supply chain partners take steps towards complying with EUDR requirements. RA is also developing a deforestation risk assessment offering for non-certified supply chains.

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While Scandinavia is a term commonly used to describe the region in Northern Europe, it is surprising that it has no clear definition. Most people imagine three countries: Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, though geographically, it is an area of the Scandinavian Peninsula dominated by the Scandinavian Mountains. This leaves Denmark out but includes the northern part of Finland.

The status of Iceland is also vague. The country has close linguistic and historical ties with Scandinavia and is considered a part of Scandinavia by many, though the island sits nearly 1,000 kilometres away from the Norwegian coast.

All mentioned countries share exceptionally strong coffee traditions and similar consumer preferences, though some differences exist. “[For example], in Finland, the volume [of coffee] consumed is much higher. In Norway, Sweden and Denmark, consumption is less, but consumers have a higher preference for high quality – specialty – coffee,” said Tjalling Jorrit de Boer, senior market analyst with Molgo, a Groningen, Netherlands-based research firm.

Kafferisteriet Merkur – a prominent coffee roastery established in 1993. Image: Wikipedia

A recent study conducted by Molgo showed that Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have coffee consumption levels that are well above the European average. Sweden, the largest coffee market in the region with a population of 10.5 million, ranks third in terms of per capita coffee consumption in Europe, following only Finland and Luxembourg.

Other Scandinavian countries are just a little behind. Norway, with a population of 5.4 million people, has a per capita consumption of 8.6 kg, the fifth highest in Europe. Denmark’s consumption of 6.6 kg makes it eighth. The high consumption makes the market relatively static with little room for volume growth, Salla Korpivaara, consultant at Euromonitor International, assumed.

Moreover, a number of factors in Europe have taken a toll on the Scandinavian coffee market in recent years. The Covid-19 pandemic definitely had an impact on the region, but to varying extent, Korpivaara indicated. For example, she said Sweden imposed a few restrictions on the HoReCa sector, and their lockdown was not as strict as Norway and Denmark. Hence, while in Norway, the coffee segment in HoReCa declined in 2020 by 27 percent and in Denmark by 19 percent. In Sweden, the decline was more moderate, around 14 percent. The HoReCa segment swiftly recovered starting the following year, 2021, for all three countries.

“At the same time, in 2020, all three countries saw a steep increase in the retail volume sales as Scandinavians, [like] the rest of the world, moved their offices to their homes,” Korpivaara noted.
De Boer said that it is hard to say how the cost-of-living crisis in Europe, which unravelled in 2023 and has yet to loosen its grip on the economy, has affected coffee consumption in Scandinavia. He assumed that it hadn’t had a significant influence on the volume, though it could trigger a small shift from the out-of-home to the at-home market and further small growth of the specialty segment.

Focus on innovation

Among the Scandinavian countries, the Danish coffee sector stands out for its innovative specialty segment. This segment is characterised by small-scale specialty coffee roasters who work closely together with each other and with their suppliers to create unique and high-quality coffee products. These roasters often experiment with different roasting techniques, sourcing methods, and flavour profiles, leading to a diverse and dynamic coffee market.

Scandinavian roasteries are willing to experiment. Image: Claus Sal

Local publication, Fodevare Watch, also recently reported a major shift towards innovation in the Danish coffee sector, with new companies, concepts, and ideas “springing up all over the country.”

The trend has become so massive that company managers are even starting to wonder whether there is room for so many new players in the market, especially in the retail segment, where the competition is particularly fierce. “I doubt there is room for so many competitors in retail because the shelf space is getting smaller. So, there will be a bigger battle for space in the future,” Tom Faurschou, managing director of Lavazza’s Danish division, told Fodevare Watch.

Henrik Aagaard, CEO of BKI Foods, on the other hand, argued that the Danish coffee market offers plenty of development opportunities, and those ready for bold experiments have good chances of being rewarded with strong consumer interest.

Competition in a market where sales volumes have already reached all possible heights and a further rise in volumes seems unlikely drives coffee companies to be more creative. “We are looking into a relatively stable market, but the requirements to develop and launch new concepts will only become more important in the future,” Aagaard said.

Market players indicate that Scandinavian coffee lovers are increasingly becoming more discerning, searching for new tastes and flavours, as well as new places and rituals associated with drinking coffee. However, the existing traditions are here to stay. “[Scandinavian] coffee culture is unique. In many gatherings and meetings, coffee has a key role. In Sweden, there is a tradition called ‘fika’. This social event is where people gather to enjoy coffee, often with sweet pastries or cakes,” Korpivaara said.

Analysts agree that innovation is the key for market players in Denmark and other Scandinavian countries’ markets to stay successful. This is particularly true, as some forecasts envisage that generation change can drag down coffee consumption in some segments. “Younger consumers are likely to consume fewer cups of coffee than their older counterparts but are likely to spend slightly more on each cup,” Korpivaara said.

According to Molgo’s research, innovative Scandinavian roasters have a significant influence on the global specialty coffee scene. In this context, the analysts pointed out that the Specialty Coffee Association originated in Norway. Furthermore, despite the projected limited growth options, the number of roasters in Scandinavian countries is increasing, particularly the number of micro-roasters. Many of these roasters distribute their coffee to local cafés but also have their own coffee shops. For instance, Sweden alone is home to around 80-100 micro-roasters.

Scandinavian countries have some of the highest coffee consumption rates in Europe. Image: Christian Caffe

Surprisingly enough, the innovation trend goes hand in hand with consolidation. Multinationals are taking over promising brands in the Nordic specialty segment, de Boer indicated. This is largely in line with the general trend of increasing consolidation in the mainstream coffee segment in Europe in the last few years.

Ethical consumption dominates

Observers also pointed out that demand in the Scandinavian market is increasingly being reframed by principles of ethical consumption. “Products with organic and ethical certificates, as well as products underlining the product’s origin, are seeing good growth in fresh coffee. This is in line with both the health and wellness trend and the increasing interest in ethical consumption, with many younger consumers prioritising quality and compatibility with these consumption trends over quantity,” Korpivaara noted.

In this background, she added, coffee pods registered a decline in volume sales last year in all three markets despite the convenience that these products offer. In an increasingly environmentally conscious market, pods are not seen as a sustainable solution. Many consumers would now rather look for coffee bean machines to have convenient, high-quality coffee. Competition in this area is intense and there has been some discounting on pricing.

Molgo analysts stated that Rainforest Alliance/UTZ, Fairtrade, and organic-certified coffees are particularly interesting to consumers in Scandinavia, where about 90 percent of all coffee sold in retail is certified. As a part of the same trend, Scandinavian coffee lovers have shown increasing interest in organic coffee. However, the European economic crisis has weighed on this segment in the past few years.

“We do not have exact figures for organic coffee, but we know that the high inflation and weakening of purchasing power in Scandinavia have led to a decline in the overall organic market,” Korpivaara said.

Promising niches

Sustainable, specialty coffees and premium quality coffees continue to be promising segments of the Scandinavian coffee market, Euromonitor International analysts claimed.

Scandinavia sees a growth consumption of specialty coffee. Image: Mork

“Fresh coffee beans are expected to continue to grow. Consumers are showing increased interest in fresh coffee beans as they look for products that they see as healthier, higher in quality and more ethical. An increasing number of Scandinavians will have a coffee maker [with a bean grinder] at home, and they will use it more on a daily basis rather than only on special occasions as was previously the case,” Korpivaara explained.

Foodservice coffee volumes are expected to see healthy growth in the forecast period as Scandinavian consumers will be spending more time out of their homes and retail outlets are looking out for new coffee formats to offer, she noted.

The coffee shop culture and takeaway coffees are also becoming more popular in the region, providing a further boost to sales. Retail e-commerce is expected to continue to see positive growth over the forecast period as online grocery shopping becomes a normal part of life for more and more consumers. “In addition to ordering supplies of conventional coffee via online grocery retailers, consumers will increasingly order more exotic coffee blends, beans and pods online from specialist coffee sites,” Korpivaara said.

• Vladislav Vorotnikov is a Batumi, Georgia-based multimedia B2B freelance journalist writing about the tea and coffee industries since 2012.

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In 2023, over 20% of Nescafé’s coffee was sourced from farmers implementing regenerative agriculture practices. This data is based on the monitoring and impact assessment provided by the Rainforest Alliance, across farmer groups in 11 coffee origins, from where Nescafé sources its coffee. As a result, farmers in countries such as Honduras, India, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam achieved a 5% to 25% increase in coffee productivity per hectare compared to 2022. Key practices that contributed to this increase included optimised fertilisation and mulching. The implementation of these practices also led to a reduction in GHG emissions per kilogramme of coffee, ranging from 15% to 30%. In 2023, the Nescafé Plan distributed 21 million coffee plantlets to farmers to help renovate and rejuvenate coffee plots and improve productivity, in coffee origin countries.

Philipp Navratil, head of Nestlé’s Coffee Strategic Business Unit, said: “The Nescafé Plan embodies our unwavering commitment to help secure the future of coffee. This is at the heart of Nescafé. This second progress report is a testimony to the work we do every day on the ground with our partners, suppliers, and farmers, in the regions from where we source our coffee, and it motivates us even more to continue our efforts.”

Prioritising knowledge transfer and expertise building is essential to increase the uptake on regenerative agriculture. In 2023, more than 140,000 coffee farmers across 16 coffee origins received comprehensive training in regenerative agriculture practices as well as technical assistance. In Honduras, for example, 12,000 younger generation coffee farmers received training on entrepreneurship, quality, and regenerative agriculture, supporting the next generation of farmers to manage their farms more productively.

Recognising the importance of peer-to-peer learning, the Nescafé Plan launched an innovative online platform called Agrinest. This platform aims to connect farmers from around the world, facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration. Currently, more than 1,600 farmers in Vietnam and 240 farmers in Indonesia are actively using Agrinest, with a growing trend of participation expected in the coming years.

Nestlé has also contributed to the Regenerative Agriculture for Low-Carbon and Resilient Coffee Farms – A Practical Guidebook. This guidebook, created in collaboration with the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), provides field agronomists, trainers and professionals working with coffee farmers with a set of best practices that they can use and adapt to different farming contexts, helping farmers transition to regenerative agriculture. The guidebook is publicly available to the coffee sector.

The Nescafé Plan 2030 aims to issue a progress report every year to update on the brand’s work in helping coffee farming communities transition to regenerative agriculture practices and, as a result, to help improve their livelihoods. This the second Progress Report issued since the launch of the Nescafé Plan 2030.

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When Firsd Tea North America and Tea & Coffee Trade Journal planned a first-of-its-kind sustainability perspectives survey in 2021, they embarked on a mission to understand how professionals within tea and related industries perceived sustainability. We discovered overwhelming apprehension about the risk of climate change on operations, cautious hope for the future, and an under-prioritisation of sustainability when selecting teas to offer consumers.

But to truly grasp industry views on sustainability, it was necessary to continue listening and tracking how collected data either yielded the same patterns or evolved into changing trends. That is why the two organisations again partnered to survey professionals in tea and related industries to understand how they currently view sustainability efforts within the sector and their outlooks for the future. The findings have been published in the 2023 Sustainability Perspectives Report and are available online here. In this two-part article series, the results of that report will be further explored in terms of the planet and people.

General impressions remain positive

On a broader scale, the results cast a positive light. In terms of overall sustainability performance, 73 percent of respondents indicated the belief that the tea industry implements sustainability very well or somewhat well. In comparison, 68 percent believed coffee performed within those same parameters. Further probing into the environmental aspects of that performance, 75 percent of respondents in tea and related industries believe the tea industry performs well or somewhat well in terms of reducing environmental impact.

Additionally, the sustainability reputations of several producing countries improved. Japan still remained No. 1 (96 percent), but remarkable differences did surface from 2022. Though every country witnessed positive increases among survey-takers, Vietnam (+37 percent), Kenya (+33 percent), China (+26 percent), and Sri Lanka (+26 percent) saw significant improvements in 2023 from the 2022 study.

Respondents also expressed general optimism in the industry’s sustainability direction. When asked to rank how the tea industry performed with sustainability ten years ago on a scale of one to ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best, the average score was 4.9. This score was 0.9 higher than last year’s average score. Rankings of how the tea industry currently performs reached 6.38, up 1.38 points over the 2022 average. Average rankings of how the tea industry will perform ten years from now also increased from 6.9 in 2022 to 7.79 in 2023.

Areas of concern

While respondents had positive outlooks on some general aspects, their answers also revealed areas of greater concern. Most professionals in tea and related industries remain aware of and concerned about the environment at a more personal level. 75 percent (versus. 80 percent in 2022) of respondents said they were worried about climate change’s effects on their business operations.

More specifically, most respondents said changing rain patterns (95 percent in 2022 versus 100 percent in 2023) and extreme heat (91 percent in 2022 versus 97 percent in 2023) were the biggest climate change risk factors with pest problems close in third (89 percent in 2022 versus 96 percent in 2023).

Climate concerns and certifications

When it came to standards and certifications that respondents in tea and related industries felt were most important to consumers, the results reinforced the previous study — 95 percent said organic certification led the way versus 85 percent in 2022. This year, non-GMO surpassed Fair Trade as the second most important standard to consumers in the eyes of tea and related industry professionals (81 percent to 68 percent, respectively). Rainforest Alliance (53 percent) remained in fourth place.

Though most respondents remain worried about climate change, they continue to rank ‘sustainability’ as a low-priority factor when selecting teas for their businesses. In 2023, respondents still listed flavour (96 percent), leaf grade (91 percent) and origin/terroir (90 percent) as the top three characteristics that contributed to their decisions to stock particular tea types.

Implications

The report paints a largely positive picture of overall tea industry sustainability progress. Respondents tend to feel that improvements are being made both overall and in the perception of particular producing countries. They also remain generally optimistic about the future. However, the report points to key areas for further action and research:

1. Continued surveys will help reveal industry trends and shifts. While corporate sustainability reports and sustainability certifications provide more of the ‘harder’ metrics on gaps and progress, the perspectives report continues to provide the ‘softer’ metrics that indicate motivations and readiness for change. As such, the survey has become a barometer for the industry to assess readiness and acceptance of change within the overall tea product ecosystem.
2. Environment and climate concerns are still tilting the wrong direction. Respondents generally believed that the tea industry’s sustainability performance would improve in the next ten years, but this was tempered against the continued concerns over the tea plant’s susceptibility to climate change, and environmental impacts on tea business operation. Respondents may feel that conditions will get worse before they get better. Alternatively, the divergence may indicate respondent’s beliefs that deep environmental damage is beyond the realm of control and may arrive in spite of marked progress in sustainability practices. The sustainability perspectives survey draws those underlying concerns to the fore so that latent worries can be exposed and addressed.
3. In addition to the ambivalence of sentiments was a potential mismatch in action. Flavour, origin, and pricing have long been seen as driving factors in tea purchase. At the same time, respondents rated organic certification and non-GMO as the certifications most important to consumers. Taken together, these findings may suggest one or more of the following:

• Respondents may believe that quality and value (price) are the ultimate factors in consumers’ purchasing decisions.
• Respondents may believe that consumers are more interested in clean/healthy products, with that concern centering on more immediate and personal impacts. Organic and non-GMO certified products are often viewed as safer, pollution-less products that more directly affect the health of the end-user. While organic practices may benefit the environment by virtue of the absence of pesticides, their potential for environmental improvement are not part of their primary agenda.
• Even if respondents believe that consumers want teas that meet quality, price, sustainability and certification standards altogether, respondents believe they are willing to make tradeoffs in the area of sustainability to get what they want in the other areas.

Each of these areas provide opportunities for further discussion and research, especially in the areas of consumer preferences and purchase decisions. Understanding the tea industry’s and retailers’ effectiveness in promoting sustainable teas will be an important factor. On the consumer side, dialogue on how consumers make tradeoffs in using their purchasing power to reflect their values is an important consideration.

Firsd Tea and the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal would like to thank all of the members of the tea, coffee, and cocoa industries who contributed to the survey. A diverse range of respondents from across the world and across the supply chains provided us with their distinctive insights. It is our hope that the survey report continues to spark change and dialog on the importance of sustainability practices as they affect the future of these global industries and their consumers.

• Jason Walker is marketing director of Firsd Tea North America. Prior to his work with Firsd Tea, Walker served in a variety of roles in tea and beverage business capacities. His experience includes business services for small tea companies, a top-ranked online destination for tea consumer education and co-founding a coffee business. His insights draw upon his diverse range of experience in sales, operations and management in the tea world. He may be reached at: jason.walker@firsdtea.com.

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The Paris Baguette Blend, crafted by Lavazza, is a whole bean coffee offering that is sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee farms. Produced to support environmental sustainability, the premium Arabica Coffee blend is made with RFA certified sustainably grown, 100% Arabica beans.

“We are excited to deepen our partnership with Lavazza, a brand synonymous with excellence in the coffee industry,” said Eric Galkin, vice president and head of supply chain at Paris Baguette. “This collaboration represents a natural progression of our shared commitment to quality ingredients and innovation.”

The Blend offers a robust, full-bodied flavour that is balanced with sweet, chocolate undertones. It is available for purchase at participating US Paris Baguette locations.

“At Lavazza, we are proud to join forces with Paris Baguette to introduce the Paris Baguette Blend, crafted by Lavazza,” shared Jonathan Lehr, marketing director for Lavazza North America, Inc. “This collaboration not only introduces a remarkable coffee blend to the market but also serves as a testament to our shared values and the belief that businesses can make a positive difference in the world.”

For more information on Lavazza, visit lavazzausa.com or @lavazzausa. For more information on Paris Baguette, visit parisbaguette.com or @parisbaguette_usa.

The post Lavazza and Paris Baguette partner on new blend appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

With corporations beginning to grasp that sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are important to customers and for the long term future of businesses, company claims of achievements and action plans are everywhere, alongside, of course, accusations of greenwashing. Which is why it is increasingly important for businesses to have certifications against their claims, to enlist consumer and stakeholder trust. Whether it be Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, organic, B Corp, non-GMO or vegan, consumers and company partners are looking for the certification labels, especially within the tea and coffee industry.

Certifications are notably prolific in the tea and coffee value chains. With 17 percent of tea, globally, certified Fairtrade, organic or Rainforest Alliance, and 25 percent of global coffee certified by these or similar schemes, according to Ethical Consumer (ethicalconsumer.org). This may be due to the fact that many tea- and coffee-producing areas are in developing countries, as well as the way in which both products are marketed to consumers; the origin of the tea and coffee is often one of its main selling points and helps the consumers build a narrative of the product before deciding to make the purchase. By instilling this focus and painting a picture of where the tea or coffee grew and was farmed, it is natural for consumers to want to imagine it with fair working conditions, nature friendly processes and beneficial to its local area, socially and environmentally. Amanda Archila, executive director, Fairtrade America, explained, “Coffee and tea are two critical commodities for Fairtrade. Globally in 2021, Fairtrade worked with 872,916 coffee farmers, and 400,402 tea farmers and workers. Premiums earned across coffee and tea amounted to over USD $102 million. We partner with traders, roasters, brands, and retailers around the world to ensure Fairtrade is easily accessible to consumers.”

As one of the biggest players in the tea and coffee certification field, Fairtrade as an organisation facilitates equitable and sustainable trading for producers in developing countries, working with co-operatives, businesses and governments. It does this by enforcing a Fairtrade Minimum Price for when the market price drops, as a safety net for producers, as well as an additional fixed Premium payment to be paid on top of the market price, to be invested in producers’ local communities.

It is an organisation and certification that is seeing a lot of growth; “The number of certified tea farmers in the Fairtrade system has been gradually increasing over the past few years: up to 347,000 in 2021 compared with 319,500 in 2019, in diverse origins,” commented Amy Collis, senior sustainable sourcing manager, Fairtrade Foundation.

Archila added that recognition among consumers has also increased: “Since 2019, recognition of the Fairtrade label has jumped by 118 percent among US shoppers,” demonstrating the building consumer interest in certified products. Archila continued, “Gen-Z shoppers showed the highest increase in recognition of the Fairtrade label among all age groups: 18-24 year olds who recognised the mark jumped by 121 percent, from 33 percent in 2021 to 73 percent in 2023. And millennial shoppers (25-34) are the most frequent purchasers of Fairtrade products.”

Archila agreed that “in the broader world of sustainability products, consumer awareness is definitely in the mainstream. Eighty-six percent of shoppers recalled seeing a sustainability or ethical label on a product while shopping. We also see this consumer connection to sustainable and ethical products growing stronger in the future.”

While the Fairtrade certification is seeing growth worldwide, Collis explained that the UK is currently the biggest market for Fairtrade tea, holding a share of 62 percent of Fairtrade tea sold globally. Collis said this was due to strong commitments from retail partners, “with Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Co-op all having a 100 percent Fairtrade commitment on tea and coffee.”

Image: Kloth & Köhnken

Duncan Gray, head roaster and managing director, Bay Coffee Roasters, a west Wales, UK -based roastery, explained why the Fairtrade certification is important to his company: “Fairtrade is often far more than paying a good price to the farmer and also their workers, many of the Fairtrade cooperatives that we have worked with have community initiatives providing training and education for the families, health care and often other improvements to the local area.”

Consumers embrace organic

Bay Coffee Roasters’ other major certification that it champions, is organic, which often goes hand in hand with Fairtrade, with “over 50 percent of Fairtrade farmers [choosing] to go organic: tea, coffee, chocolate, bananas and cotton are among the products carrying dual Fairtrade and organic certification,” said Collis, as they both call for sustainable farming practices. “The nature of organic farming where farmers cannot rely on chemicals means that they generally have to care for their land, respecting its bio diversity and farming in a more sustainable way. Organic certification means that the farmers have to keep to their word,” said Gray. With organic farming, the emphasis is on techniques such as crop rotation, biological crop protection, green manuring and composting, and different regions have their own organic certifications, such as the EU and USDA Organic.

As discussed in ‘The Balance of Organic’ feature in the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal October 2023 issue, the organic market is seeing growth, with the tea market holding a value of USD $1.24 billion as of 2023, with a CAGR of 8 percent through 2033, while the organic coffee market estimates are even higher with a CAGR of 12.5 percent until 2028, according to market research companies FMI and Mordor Intelligence. Organic products are not only perceived as better for the environment and for the producers by the consumer, but they are also believed to be healthier, with less chemicals needed to grow and process them.

Gray added that they even have some customers who will buy only organic coffee, and whether that be for sustainability, ethical or health reasons, it is clear it is something that is important to many customers, or at a minimum regarded highly and as a bonus to their purchases.

Organic tea is something that it is ingrained in Kloth & Köhnken’s (K&K) identity, explained Sandra Nikolei, tea department/corporate social responsibility at K&K; “Organic farming can result in a better taste of a product as the plant grows slowly compared to most conventional products.”

Nikolei added that they are seeing much interest from their customers for organic products, but also for Rainforest Alliance-certified products. Rainforest Alliance, an even bigger scheme than Fairtrade and which now includes the UTZ label, is another non-profit organisation that promotes responsible business practices and strives to improve producer livelihoods and communities, especially in the face of the climate crisis. It does not do this with fixed pricing structures, but rather through policing production.

Image: Rainforest Alliance

“As we approach 2030 – a year experts mark as the potential point of no return – we must respond with unparalleled speed and scale to shift the course of sustainability transformation,” said Rainforest Alliance CEO, Santiago Gowland, “The hard truth is that the old sustainability models are good but not good enough.” The Rainforest Alliance certification has been going for 35 years, and, as of December 2022, has since achieved sustainability projects and certified farmers in 58 countries, worked with over 6,000 companies, and made Rainforest Alliance certified products available in 190 countries.

B Corp on the rise

Another major certification that is rising to the forefront of the tea and coffee industry, indeed most consumer industries as a whole, is B Corp. For a company to achieve B Corp certification, it must be verified by the ‘B Lab’ organisation, to “meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability,” B Lab explained. There are B Labs across the world, including UK Australia, East Africa, Europe, and North and South America, with 6,800 B Corp certified companies across 89 countries and 161 industries.

Duncan Gray that becoming a B-Corp is next on Bay Coffee’s agenda to achieve, joining the many tea and coffee companies certified as B Corps, such as Nespresso, Pact Coffee, English Tea Shop, Bigelow, and Pukka Herbs to name a few.

The cost of certifications

Many companies, including Bay Coffee and K&K, hold multiple certifications, particularly if they have a strong international presence as different certifications are more popular in different regions. K&K for one, lists Fairtrade, Fair Trade USA, Bio EU (organic), Bio Suisse organic, USDA Organic, Rainforest Alliance, FairBioTea, and kosher, among theirs.

Different certifications cover different areas and demand different requirements from companies, so perhaps the more the better, it could be argued. There is such a variety of certifications available, many much smaller than the ones listed here, and it comes down to a company’s specific operational practices, locations, and community needs as to what certifications will have the largest impact on its environmental and social undertakings. However, it is the big names such as Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, organic, and B Corp that seem to be major drivers of consumer and customer interest and purchases.

Image: Bay Coffee Roasters

But there are also a lot of conversations around certifications in relation to pricing and verification. Consumers realise that they will likely pay more for certified products than they do for those without certifications. “For a pound bag of coffee, shoppers said they were willing to pay a price premium of up to 35 percent more for certified coffee over uncertified. Nearly four in five consumers said they were willing to pay more for a product to ensure that producers received a fair price,” explained Archila.

While it is understandable that there must be additional costs to ensure the producer is receiving a fair price, it does mean the more price sensitive consumer may struggle to choose the ethical option when making their purchasing decisions. This allows the mass produced and possibly unethically sourced tea and coffee companies to keep a sizeable share of the market. Collis detailed that “Fairtrade-certified organisations sell only around 4 percent of their tea on Fairtrade terms – this means they don’t benefit from being certified to the extent that they could. When shoppers choose Fairtrade tea, tea producers can sell more of their product on Fairtrade terms.”

So, while there is growing demand for certified products, and a certain amount of consumer willingness to pay extra for them, there may not be enough for producers to justify the additional expense if it is not being bought from them at the certified price.

Certifications are costly for the producer as well as sometimes for the consumer. “Significant commitment is needed from producers to achieve and maintain compliance with the Fairtrade Standards: but it isn’t always feasible for producers who are facing other challenges, such as rising costs of inputs, low market prices and the effects of climate change,” said Collis. Likewise with organic, there is a conversion phase where anything grown cannot be sold under the organic title with the benefits that come with it, until the transition is complete, and no compensation is offered for the expense or yield loss.

K&K is proud of its certifications and recognises their value, but also their limitations; “Certifications are necessary to help to make the world a better place. But often they are too cost intensive and too difficult to implement, for farmers, small businesses and for start-ups. They should be less complicated and should focus on an easy way to make changes. Imposing the same requirements on everyone in this world and origin is, from our point of view, unfortunately very European and unidimensional. It should be more individually adaptable. Many certificates are too bureaucratic and rigid,” explained Nikolei.

Therefore, while they are an important mark of credibility and of good intentions to inform consumers, having certifications is not the only nor final step to sustainability and ethical business practices. “Certification can only ever form part of a company’s sustainability efforts,” articulated Collis, they do not “replace the duties of state or business actors with respect to human rights or sustainability.”

• Kathryn Brand is an associate editor on T&CTJ, while still writing for several of Bell’s other magazines. She joined Bell Publishing as an editorial assistant at the beginning of 2022 after graduating from the University of East Anglia with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She may be reached at: kathryn@bellpublishing.com.

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Recently adopted practices include intercropping, mulching and integrated weed management. In 2022, the Nescafé Plan 2030 farmer trainings on regenerative agricultural practices reached more than 100,000 farmers in 14 countries. In addition, 1.4 million trees were planted in and around coffee farms that supply coffee to Nescafé, providing shade to prevent coffee’s over-exposure to the sun and additional revenue sources for farmers.

Rejuvenation of coffee trees is key to improving the yields of coffee farms. In 2022, Nescafé distributed 23 million disease and drought-resistant, high-yield coffee plantlets to help rejuvenate coffee plots, increase productivity and reduce the use of agrochemicals.

Philipp Navratil, head of Nestlé’s Coffee Strategic Business Unit said, “The Nescafé Plan 2030 Progress Report shows the potential of regenerative agriculture to help make coffee farming more sustainable over the long term. We are supporting coffee farmers to make this transition and are giving them the know-how and tools they need to increase yields and income, while helping reduce carbon emissions at the same time.”

Climate change is the number one concern for coffee farmers in the 14 countries assessed by the Rainforest Alliance. It is followed by high input costs and low raw material prices. Most farmers say that the main reasons for the Nescafé Plan’s success are its consistent and high-volume purchases, regular technical assistance on the ground and access to markets.

The Nescafé Plan 2030 is piloting financial support schemes to help farmers transition to more sustainable practices. The pilots have engaged around 3,000 coffee farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia and Mexico, countries where farmers earn, on average, less than a living income. These pilots include testing conditional cash incentives to reward the transition to regenerative agriculture and the rejuvenation of coffee plots as well as weather insurance schemes to protect farmers’ income against the unexpected effects of climate change. Although the pilots are still ongoing, Nescafé is seeing encouraging results and strong farmer engagement.

Yustika Muharastri, monitoring and evaluation manager from the Rainforest Alliance said, “The Rainforest Alliance works with the Nescafé team to monitor and assess their efforts through the Nescafé Plan. We have observed encouraging trends, including improved incomes in some countries, and increased adoption of important regenerative practices, such as integrated weed and pest management. We are excited that our ongoing collaboration will continue to provide valuable insights to the Nescafé Plan, further supporting its ambition to improve the livelihoods of many more coffee farmers.”

The Nescafé Plan 2030 aims to issue a progress report every year to provide an update on the evolution of its work in helping coffee farming communities transition to regenerative agriculture practices and improve their livelihoods.

Read the Nescafé Plan 2030 Progress Report (pdf, 12Mb)
Read the Rainforest Alliance Impact Assessment

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The Paris Baguette and Lavazza partnership highlights the organisations’ shared passions for supporting and making a positive impact on local communities. Through Lavazza’s sustainability initiatives and Paris Baguette’s commitment to giving back, both companies hope to make a real and lasting difference in the communities they serve. Paris Baguette will be serving a selection of Rainforest Alliance-certified coffees, including Lavazza’s specialty “La Reserva de ¡Tierra! Selection,” a premium blend of high-grade natural and washed Arabica from Central and South America. A balance between notes of jasmine flowers, almonds and milk chocolate, a medium body and a delicate taste. La Reserva de ¡Tierra! Selection features coffee sourced from communities supported by the Lavazza Foundation, with social responsibility projects aimed at developing living conditions and economic growth while respecting the environment.

All Paris Baguette specialty coffee beverages will be made with Lavazza’s coffee blends and cafés will serve the brand’s popular ready-to-drink cans of refreshing cold brew that are organic and Rainforest Alliance certified. The ready-to-drink cans are available in four flavour profiles that offer both dairy and non-dairy options. The flavours include: Classic Cold Brew, Nitro Cold Brew, Cappuccino Cold Brew with Milk, and Double Shot Cold Brew with Oat Milk.

“Paris Baguette is proud to partner with Lavazza, which shares a commitment to using quality ingredients, sustainable practices and a passion for spreading joy,” said Pete Bell, chief marketing officer at Pete Bell. “We’re looking forward to working with Lavazza to deliver exceptional service to our customers while taking care of our neighbors, our planet and our future.”

The partnership also provides Lavazza customers with easier access to their favorite coffee drinks, which they can now get at any Paris Baguette location. Lavazza has crafted a custom coffee program for Paris Baguette to ensure beverages will continue to be the high quality that coffee enthusiasts are accustomed to. The programme includes co-branded coffee cups, brewing equipment, and other in-café materials, plus extensive staff training on authentic Italian brewing practices. Consumers can expect exciting activations in stores throughout the year tied to upcoming coffee holidays and moments.

“We are excited to expand our footprint in the United States through this new partnership with Paris Baguette and introduce our line of products to their loyal customer base,” shared Camille Vareille, VP – head of marketing Americas at Lavazza Group. “As a value-driven brand, we believe Paris Baguette perfectly complements our mission to create quality products while also providing real, lasting impacts within our communities.”

Learn more at ParisBaguette.com or www.lavazzausa.com.

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Firsd Tea recently released a first-of-its-kind Sustainability Perspectives Report in 2022 to capture the tea and coffee industry’s views on how well the tea sector performs in areas of sustainable practices. In conjunction with Tea & Coffee Trade Journal and a third-party research firm, the study was developed with guidance from industry peers and an academic research and think-tank. Respondents of the survey included a diverse spectrum of wholesalers, importers, exporters, retailers, and others based in North America, Europe, and Asia. While many studies have examined consumers’ perceptions of sustainability, this study targeted professionals in tea, coffee, and related industries to understand their concerns and views on the tea industry’s sustainability performance.

The findings of the research can generally be grouped into perspectives about three areas: environment, people, and certifications. Part three of this series focuses on sustainability and certifications.

As a quick recap from the previous coverage, the survey of tea and coffee professionals revealed:

1. Industry professionals show strong concerns about the environmental impact on their businesses — 80 per cent are worried about climate change’s effects on their operations.
2. Respondents are generally split as to the tea industry’s performance in some human welfare areas, like gender equity and poverty reduction.

The survey also revealed some surprising attitudes about sustainability and certifications. Sustainability was not a high-priority consideration for industry respondents in terms of their decisions to carry specific teas in their product offerings. Respondents ranked flavour (96 per cent), leaf grade (90 per cent), origin/terroir (88 per cent) and price (83 per cent) above sustainability (79 per cent). In addition, a significant majority of Industry respondents (85 per cent) view organic certification as the most valued certification standard among consumers. Certifications more closely associated with sustainability fared lower in perceived value, with Fair Trade at 68 per cent, non-GMO at 58 per cent, and Rainforest Alliance/UTZ at 56 per cent. Taken together, these findings suggest that sustainability is seen as lower in importance among consumers, and that sustainability-focused certifications are even lower in priority.

Then there is the obvious disconnect between concerns about environment and human welfare and the prominence of organic certification. Do consumers mistakenly view organic certification as a sustainability credential? The organic programme was never designed to serve as a mark of sustainability; its standards and compliance measures do not include any forms of evaluation of environmental or human welfare impacts. From the producers’ perspective, compliance with organic certifications does overlap with certain compliance practices of other certifications, (e.g., non-GMO and regenerative agriculture), but these are also not certifications with a dominant emphasis on the people plus planet issues of sustainability.

Mixed results concerning certifications

On the surface, the findings suggest that industry respondents see consumers as more concerned about the impact of tea purchase decisions on their immediate and local well-being: be it price, absence of pollutants (e.g., organic), and overall food quality. However, Mintel Consulting’s recently published global 2022 Sustainability Barometer showed that consumers who are more invested in sustainable purchase decisions do rely on certifications as an important guide in making those choices.

Write-in feedback from respondents reflect split attitudes toward the role of certifications. Some respondents feel more certification, and more enforcement of certification practices is needed. Others feel that certification often places too much focus on administrative paper-pushing and not enough on-the-ground support. Some commenters believe certification alone is too costly for small farmers and not transparent enough in terms of actual practices recorded and activities in the value chain. The most often repeated comments regarding certification call for more action in terms of less economic burden for growers and legal/compulsory compliance across a unified, streamlined certification scheme for organisations.

Any discrepancies in sustainability across consumer perceptions, business practices, and certifications may soon face a re-alignment. Governments across the globe have passed or are drafting legal guidance that will require businesses to further comply with sustainability practices. For example, the European Union published its Draft Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in February of 2022. If ratified in its current form, the directive would require companies to identify and seek to rectify negative impacts on the environment and human welfare that are found within the business’s value chain. In the United States, California passed the California Transparency In Supply Chains Act, with the explicit purpose of increasing awareness of human welfare issues within organisational supply chains. These are just a couple of examples of laws directed toward enforcement of corporate sustainability practices. As these laws develop, certification bodies will likely adjust their certification process to streamline the path to legal compliance or to exceed the legal standards so that their certification badge stands out as a mark of greater distinction.

When viewed as an integrated whole, the report findings indicate that sustainability certifications may be unbalanced in terms of their perceived value to tea consumers. This may be partially due to the certification’s role in environmental and human welfare aspects of sustainability, and as a factor of public sentiment towards sustainability initiatives. Additionally, industry members tend to see more of the transparency issues and economic costs associated with certification as obstacles to providing greater value in tea sustainability.

• Jason Walker is marketing director of Firsd Tea North America. Prior to his work with Firsd Tea, Walker served in a variety of roles in tea and beverage business capacities. His experience includes business services for small tea companies, a top-ranked online destination for tea consumer education and co-founding a coffee business. His insights draw upon his diverse range of experience in sales, operations and management in the tea world. He may be reached at: jason.walker@firsdtea.com.

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Coffee is a fundamental part of Italian culture. There are about 162,000 coffee bars in Italy on average serving 175 cups of simply espresso every day, the Italian Federation of Public Exercises estimated. As many as 97 per cent of Italians drink coffee several times during the day.

An average Italian spends EUR €260 a year on coffee, which includes consumption at home, at the coffee bars, and in the office, according to Coffee Monitor Nomisma. Some researchers even suggest that Italians drink so much coffee because of having a gene that influences the daily need for caffeine. In other words, Italians may have a passion for coffee written in their DNA.

Image: Segefredo Zanetti Italia

This makes Italy the third-largest coffee-consuming country in Europe. The Italian coffee market was valued at USD $3.16 billion in 2020, research conducted by Mordor Intelligence showed.

“Espresso is an icon of Italian consumption habits. Its rituality is codified and is hardly affected by major changes or fashions,” commented Nicolas Peyresblanques, CEO of Segafredo Zanetti Italia.

When it comes to consumption preferences Italian espresso has its own distinctive features, mostly linked to geographical areas, as in southern Italy the most consistent and strongest blends are preferred, whereas in northern Italy the roundness of flavour and the softness of extraction are favoured, Peyresblanques said.

The Italian market has always been considered rather conservative. There are certain rules of coffee consumption: a cappuccino with breakfast, a caffè macchiato – or two – as an afternoon pick-me-up, and espresso after dinner.

Image: Illycaffe

As explained, by Peyresblanques the charm of the traditional moka pot is handed down from generation to generation, so much so that coffee prepared with moka pots still accounts for 70 per cent of the consumption at home.

However, the demand for premium products has been increasing across the board. For example, the turnover in the 100 per cent Arabica coffee segment increased by 8 per cent in 2021 to €224.4 million compared to the previous year, research conducted by Nielsen showed. The single-origin coffee sales soared by 35 per cent to €12 million. Organic and capsule coffee products also enjoy rising demand.

“A new value system embracing all aspects of Italian people’s lives is taking hold making their future technological, green, healthy, and ethical,” Peyresblanques said.

Sting of the Pandemic

Wreaking havoc on the traditional coffee bars and locking people at home for an extended period of time, the Covid-19 pandemic has seemingly made a major shift in consumer preferences.
“The pandemic had a very strong impact on the hospitality sector, as bars and coffee shops were very affected but, at the same time, [retail] sales increased a lot,” commented Giacomo Vannelli, co-owner of Vannelli Coffee.

Vannelli explained that Covid-19 “let people re-discover the beauty to find the right time to make a coffee at home. Drinking a coffee in Italy has always been a fast ritual at the bar counter but finally, we can see that the trend is changing, and some people prefer making a coffee at home, maybe using different extraction methods despite the ‘classic ones’ such as the moka pot or espresso.”

The most recent statistical data shows that nearly 7,000 coffee bars were closed in Italy during the Covid-19 pandemic. The worst affected was Lazio, where the number of bars dropped by 10 per cent or 1,860 units. In Marche and Friuli Venezia Giulia, the number of bars dropped by 6 per cent, while in Tuscany, Veneto, Lombardy, and Trentino Alto Adige by 5 per cent.

The Covid outbreak had a strong impact on the out-of-home segment, leading to losses that have reached 37 per cent compared to last year, the Italian statistical service Istat estimated. The sales are yet to return to the pre-crisis level.

Image: Vannelli Coffee

“In such a challenging scenario, Segafredo Zanetti has tried to support its customers and agents at its best, both financially and emotionally, as we are convinced that the human factor is the engine of relaunching in crisis periods,” Peyresblanques said.

In 2021, the market recorded a slight drop in turnover by 1.5 per cent compared to the previous year. In light of this, the single-serve segment continued its path, already begun in the previous years, settling on higher turnover levels than in 2019, reaching 44 per cent of the market value, Peyresblanques said, citing the Nielsen research.

Rise of Specialty Coffee

The pandemic also pushed some consumers to try specialty coffee, opening a new chapter in the history of this segment in the Italian market.

“Choosing to have some time for themselves, people chose also to get better quality products and so many approached the specialty coffee world,” Vannelli said. “The young generation is, in our opinion, the main driver of the specialty coffee market. Young people are looking for high-quality products, caring about values of sustainability, traceability and human rights.”

“The traditional coffee offer has been increasingly enriched by specialty coffee recipes in bar and restaurant menu cards to satisfy the expectations of those demanding consumers who aim at experiencing a totally fulfilling coffee ritual,” Peyresblanques said.

Alberto Polojac, owner of Bloom Coffee School and the national coordinator of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Italy, commented that while the specialty coffee market in Italy has huge potential, the market as a whole is still yet to recover.

“The positive sign is that big companies and brands are going into the specialty coffee segment. For example, Lavazza has recently launched its own brand in 1865, which is the foundation year of the company, and there is a lot of buzz about the specialty coffee in food magazines, and newspapers”, Polojac said.
“The market is very traditional, and it’s definitely growing,” Polojac commented, adding that SCA Italy spends a lot of effort to improve customer awareness about specialty coffee, including attracting influencers, with a famous Italian model Chiara Ferragni is the most recent example.

Image: Lavazza

“I see a huge potential of this segment in combination with traditional pastry, which is growing here in Italy. We see good examples in France, where pastry shops and the boulangerie are matched with specialty coffee shops. This is not happening yet in Italy, but we anticipate a boom in this segment in the next few years,” Polojac said. On the other hand, the current price fluctuations in the coffee beans market don’t help the coffee consumption, including in the specialty coffee segment, Vannelli said.

“People mustn’t lose purchasing power: we hope for no more restrictions, which could hinder the sale of a primary good, turning it into a luxury good,” Vannelli said, adding that despite everything, the company maintains a positive future perspective where the demand for specialty coffee will grow along with a conscientious and aware consumption.

Era of Blockchain

In the meantime, Italian coffee companies have also started employing new digital technologies both to improve traceability and to offer new payment methods.

For instance, Segafredo decided to launch a single-origin 100 per cent Arabica Rainforest Alliance-certified organic coffee, with an entirely transparent and traceable origin thanks to the blockchain technology that tells the full story behind each cup, enabling consumers to enter the farmers’ world and making them aware of the long journey it took and how much effort and passion it required, always respecting the people, the communities and the countries involved.

In a 2020 IBM survey, 44 per cent of all Europeans said it would be very valuable to have more information on the farmers who grow their food. A staggering 92 per cent of Italian consumers agreed that having food traceable on the blockchain would be valuable.

Segafredo is not the only company turning its sights on the blockchain. Caffè Barbera, which claims to be the oldest coffee roasting company in Italy, recently announced a new partnership with Algorand to use its blockchain for immediate and decentralised payments.

In 2021, Caffè Barbera started accepting payments in cryptocurrencies but limited to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. The new partnership will expand this list to ALGO, USDT, USDC, BUSD, DAI, BNB, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, XLM, and Tezos. In addition, this partnership will also be extended to business-to-consumer payments, using the Bleumi Pay payment aggregator, the company said.

The Organic Segment Looks Promising

The organic segment, which in other product categories has significantly influenced consumption trends and the organisation of on-shelf products, has been only slightly growing in the coffee market, perhaps less than expected, with a limited impact on the category, Peyresblanques said.

Nielsen estimated the organic segment turnover at €9.1 million in turnover in 2021, which corresponds to 0.7 per cent market share in value, and 0.5 per cent market share in volume. However, the demand from the market and the interest from younger consumers suggest that even this trend could have wide margins of growth.

Moka pot. Image: Pexels/Elle Hughes

“This is why our range –already including a wide option of premium blends –was enriched by organic products many of which present the Rainforest Alliance certification, the most accredited in the coffee market at present, synonymous with sustainable agriculture and better opportunities for the farmers, their families, and our planet,” Peyresblanques said.

The green agenda is not only limited to organic coffee. Italian customers are also paying a lot of attention to the package.

“In line with these trends, we are working to offer 100 per cent sustainable products, with recyclable or compostable packs: we have almost abandoned the packaging used on the market until now, consisting of dissimilar materials and therefore not recyclable to allow the disposal of our packaging in their cycling circuits, so to avoid waste creation,” Peyresblanques added.

• Vladislav Vorotnikov is Moscow-based multimedia B2B freelance journalist writing about the tea and coffee industry since 2012.

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With more than twenty years of professional experience in the coffee sector, Nogueira is the first woman to be elected to the position in ICO’s history, setting a milestone in terms of the long-awaited recognition of the leading role played by women in the entire coffee value chain.

The successor of José Sette hails from a fifth-generation Brazilian coffee family and has worked in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and the United States. In addition to holding the position of executive-director of the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA) since 2007, the new ED of the ICO has also been a board member of the National Coffee Council (CNC), the Rainforest Alliance, and the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, as well as an advisory council member of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).

During the Special Session of the Council held on 9 and 10 February, members of the Organisation expressed their high appreciation also for the Vietnamese candidate, Tran Kim Long, recognising his solid professional experience in the field of international development and valuing the commitment of the Vietnamese government with the Organisation.

Nogueira’s vision for the future of the ICO will focus on strengthening the sector coordination and partnerships to tackle priority issues such as ensuring a living and prosperous income for all farmers, market transparency, implementing global policies and financing mechanisms, increasing the sustainability of production and supply processes, as well as expanding consumption.

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Gowland succeeds Han de Groot, who left the Rainforest Alliance (RA) in Spring 2020 after a 10-year career with the organisation, including eight years with UTZ prior to the January 2018 merger. Since de Groot’s departure, board member Annemieke Wijn has worked with the leadership team in an interim role, as RA launched the search for a new CEO.

Gowland, a native of Argentina with a passion for conservation and sustainability, brings extensive expertise in organizational innovation and sustainability transformation across multiple sectors, cultures, and continents. His career is focused on bridging supply chain and landscape needs through business innovations for leading brands including Unilever, Nike and Estée Lauder.

Gowland most recently served as executive vice president for Latin America and Global Innovation at The Nature Conservancy. At The Nature Conservancy, he championed the green technology strategy through systems innovation, partnerships with technology companies, and embracing lean methodologies — most notably, through the pioneering “Agility Lab.”

“I am thrilled to contribute my global conservation and business insights to accelerate the Rainforest Alliance’s vision of a world where people and nature thrive together. It’s crucial that we leverage social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities without delay. The Rainforest Alliance is uniquely positioned to bring farmers, forest communities, companies and consumers together to build a more sustainable and resilient future for people and nature,” Gowland said.

The Rainforest Alliance is an international non-profit working in more than 70 countries to protect forests and biodiversity, take action on climate, and promote the rights and improve the livelihoods of rural people.

The organisation transforms the way the world produces, sources, and consumes, with a focus on cocoa, coffee, tea, bananas, forest products, and palm oil. Its four areas of work are certification, landscape management, supply chain services, and advocacy.

In 2020, 6.8 million hectares of land and more than 2.3 million farmers were certified according to the Rainforest Alliance’s rigorous sustainability standards, which are designed to improve economic, environmental, and social impacts for people and nature.

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To kick off the year, Dunkin’ has donated $380,000 to several important and inspiring organisations with missions focused on coffee sustainability, including:

One Tree Planted: Dunkin’ has teamed up with One Tree Planted, an environmental non-profit that’s helping the environment by planting trees in countries around the world.

Through a $200,000 donation from Dunkin’, by the end of 2021, One Tree Planted will plant a total of 200,000 trees throughout Honduras and Guatemala, including areas that are essential to regional environmental stability, increased rural farmer productivity, and the livelihoods of thousands of people. This tree-planting programme will create significant benefits to these regions, according to Dunkin’, including improving air and water quality, improving soil health, increasing wildlife biodiversity, and providing jobs in local communities.

Sustainable Coffee Challenge: Since 2018, Dunkin’ has been part of The Sustainable Coffee Challenge, a collaborative effort led by Conservation International, of companies, governments, NGOs, research institutions, and others, aligned around a common goal of transitioning the coffee sector to be fully sustainable. For 2021, Dunkin’ has committed $110,000 to become a premier-level sponsor of The Sustainable Coffee Challenge, continuing its work within the organisation to make coffee the world’s first fully sustainable agricultural product.

Dunkin’ is also making a $10,000 donation to the Sustainable Coffee Challenge’s Labor Action Network Initiative in Brazil. Funding supports Rainforest Alliance’s efforts to build the capacity of auditors and technical support teams in Brazil to ensure timely identification of any social violations.

Dunkin’s sustainability manager, Danielle Wood, has recently been appointed as one of the youngest-ever members of the Sustainable Coffee Challenge Advisory Council.

Disaster Relief Efforts in Nicaragua and Honduras: Following the recent devastation of Hurricanes Eta and Iota in Nicaragua and Honduras, Dunkin’ is supporting these vital coffee-growing countries with two donations.

The company has provided $10,000 to Seeds for Progress Foundation, a nonprofit organisation that contributes to the social development and sustainable economic growth of Nicaraguan rural communities. These funds will be allocated to a Hurricane relief fund championed by Mercon Coffee Group to assist coffee-growing communities that were severely affected by Hurricanes Eta and Iota.

Dunkin’ is also donating $10,000 to World Vision, a humanitarian and emergency relief organisation helping vulnerable children, families, and their communities overcome poverty and injustice.

Partnership for Gender Equity’s Virtual Learning Journey: Finally, Dunkin’ is allocating $40,000 toward providing its coffee suppliers in Guatemala and Colombia with The Partnership for Gender Equity’s Virtual Learning Journey. This unique online workshop series helps advance gender equity by providing 10 producer organisations with a better understanding of gendered challenges and opportunities, and identifying areas of opportunity for targeted action plans and solutions.

Dunkin’ says it will continue to work toward responsible coffee sourcing, transparency, and conservation, and will provide updates on its efforts throughout the year.

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Building on the significant progress over the past decade (pdf, 4 Mb), Nestlé has now pledged to increase its sustainability efforts.

Philipp Navratil, senior vice president, head of Beverages Strategic Business Unit, said: “Together with our partners and 230 Nescafé agronomists, we improved efficiency and agricultural practices on farms, enabling farmers to command a premium price for coffee grown sustainably. We diversified sources of farmer income to reduce their dependence on monocultures and to make them more resilient. We will not stop here. Our programmes will evolve toward better social conditions in and around coffee farms. We will double down our efforts on labor rights, child protection, youth and women empowerment.”

By 2025, Nescafé expects to have 100% responsibly sourced coffee, tracing it back to an identified farmer group. The coffee is verified or certified by independent organisations.

Nescafé will reduce and remove carbon emissions where it sources coffee and throughout its operations. Nescafé says it will also use environmentally friendly packaging. These are steps that will help Nestlé reach its 2025 packaging commitment and its 2050 net-zero ambition.

Nescafé’s partner, Rainforest Alliance, evaluates activities in coffee-sourcing regions worldwide to ensure they positively impact farmers’ lives. Rainforest Alliance regularly monitors farmers’ adoption of good practices and the evolution of related indicators like productivity.

“Our partnership with Nestlé on the Nescafé Plan is about improving and optimising coffee farming. Working together with the Rainforest Alliance on training, monitoring and evaluation, Nescafé used data and evidence to adapt its activities with the coffee farmers. We are delighted to be their partner on this journey,” said Alex Morgan, chief markets officer, Rainforest Alliance.

Through implementing the Nescafé Plan since 2010, Nestlé has achieved the following:

• Currently, 75% of coffee for Nescafé products is responsibly sourced. In 2020, Nescafé purchased more than 649,000 metric tons of responsibly sourced coffee, the largest volume from a single coffee buyer;
• Distributed 235 million high-yielding and disease-resistant coffee plantlets, exceeding the initial objective of 220 million. This contributed to the renovation of nearly 120,000 hectares of coffee farms worldwide;
• Developed and released 15 new Arabica and Robusta coffee varieties in five countries: Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Philippines and Thailand. These plant materials have higher productivity, resiliency and superior quality;
• Delivered more than 900,000 farmer training sessions on good agricultural practices. The objectives were to optimise productivity and costs, improve quality and reduce the environmental footprint through efficient irrigation methods or pruning techniques;
• Empowered more than 10,000 women and young farmers through leadership programs and training on household economic planning;
• Reinforced the business skills of more than 10,000 farmers with a focus on financial literacy, record keeping and entrepreneurship.

Nestlé will publish a new and expanded Nescafé sustainability roadmap before the end of the year. The company says it will continue to work diligently to foster a more robust and sustainable coffee sector.

Download the report here: “Our sustainable journey – Ten years of the Nescafé Plan.”

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Chiapas is one of Mexico’s key coffee-growing regions – producing over 41% of the nation’s coffee – and supports the livelihoods of over 100,000 families. However, the impact of climate change and land-use dynamics in the region are reducing the suitability of growing areas, with productivity suffering under traditional cultivation methods. This is where the risk lies, as those unable to adapt are increasingly likely to relocate their farms to higher elevation areas where the protected areas and most diverse ecosystems are located. Added to this is the current trend of warmer, drier weather patterns combined with agricultural expansion, causing a higher frequency of uncontrolled fires, with the resulting deforestation and degradation posing a significant threat to ecosystems, productive landscapes and the local population´s well-being.

Olam’s field staff have worked alongside coffee farmers in the region for over seven years, providing coffee seedlings and productivity assistance, tackling leaf rust and regenerating farms that may otherwise have been abandoned. This landscape partnership with the Rainforest Alliance, which was launched in 2018, is an opportunity to scale up these efforts and equip 800 farmers with the resources and skills they need to mitigate climate change, increase their productivity, quality and access to the market. It will also contribute to Olam Coffee’s commitment to ensure zero deforestation in our supply chains by 2025, as set out in our new sustainability strategy Coffee LENS.

We are working to restore degraded agricultural land by promoting agroforestry practices, which primarily involves re-establishing vegetation cover with coffee seedlings and native forest trees. By supporting farmers to enjoy a profitable and sustainable coffee business, we remove the incentive to encroach into natural protected areas and instead, engage them in good environmental stewardship. This way, we hope to change the trajectory of degradation, towards a living landscape where farmers prosper in thriving communities. This is our ambition for delivering a transformative impact, under the principles of Olam’s AtSource Infinity programmes and the Rainforest Alliance.

Progress to date

We have distributed half a million coffee saplings so far, to replace old stock, which, combined with the climate-smart agronomic training, has already increased the yields of 200 farmers by 60% on average.

Under the project’s focused restoration efforts, more than 300,000 forest trees have been planted, with a target of 800,000 by 2023 and to restore and protect 5,000 hectares in and around La Sepultura and Frailescana natural protected areas. This is contributing to Mexico’s goal of zero deforestation and a 30% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2030. These efforts complement the federal and state agencies’ collaborative actions to help eradicate uncontrolled fires in this landscape and the entire region.

The ability to track landscape-level improvements under this partnership and credibly communicate the broader sustainability benefits to Olam’s AtSource customers, USAID and other key stakeholders, will strengthen participation and support for the project, and unlock further opportunities to scale up the agroforestry efforts.

Measuring impact at landscape level

Perhaps the most unique aspect of this multi-stakeholder initiative is the approach to assessing and evidencing sustainability impact at landscape scale using the LandScale system. LandScale provides the right framework to measure and monitor the net increase of productive areas, from agroforestry and restoration of degraded over-grazed land into coffee production. It also helps align the interests of all partners involved, including government agencies, who are not directly involved in restoration activities on the ground, but share the mutual objective of halting habitat destruction from uncontrolled fires, through incentivising the roll out of payment for ecosystem services (PES) mechanisms in participating communities.

LandScale includes three main components – an assessment framework, verification mechanism, and reporting platform – which enable the private sector, governments, and civil society to access reliable information that can guide and incentivize sustainability improvements at scale.

LandScale tailors the assessment framework to the landscape. It offers guidance for conducting the assessment, including direction on defining the landscape’s boundary, selecting relevant indicators and performance metrics, collecting data, and reporting results. After completing an assessment, partners can communicate the results to key stakeholders. One way to do this is via the online reporting platform, available from mid-2021. The platform facilitates the assessment process and publicises results to decision-makers such as buyers, investors, and governments.

LandScale also provides a verification mechanism to enable credible and transparent claims about landscape performance and a specific organisation’s contribution to, or association with, a landscape.

For more information, visit: www.landscale.org.

• Jeremy Dufour is Sustainability Projects general manager at Olam Coffee and Sophie Persey is LandScale senior manager at the Rainforest Alliance

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The international non-profit organisation expects at least two million farmers around the world to use the new certification programme to produce better crops, adapt to climate change, increase their productivity and reduce costs. Major brands and businesses along the supply chain will rely on the programme to source a steady supply of certified ingredients, meet their commitment to responsible business, and address the rising consumer expectations for more sustainable products. 

The new programme consists of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard with requirements for farms and supply chains, along with a new assurance system and a suite of tools to measure progress towards sustainability objectives. The two years of work to reach this critical point build on the organisation’s combined 45 years of certification experience following the merger of the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ in 2018. 

The development of the new certification programme included public consultations that received input from more than 1,000 people in nearly 50 countries, representing more than 200 organisations. 

“The new certification programme incorporates new tools to support farmers and companies to set clear sustainability targets and focus investments to improve positive impacts for people and nature,” said Ruth Rennie, director of standards and assurance at the Rainforest Alliance. “These tools and innovations will support more resilient agriculture and help make responsible business the new normal. This is increasingly urgent in our age of climate change, biodiversity loss, and global inequality.”

“This ambitious and innovative certification programme is part of the Rainforest Alliance’s strategy of collaboration with farmers, companies, implementing partners, and third-party auditors, as well as other NGOs, governments, and consumers,” said Alex Morgan, chief markets officer at the Rainforest Alliance. “Only together can we restore the balance between people and nature and create a world where we thrive together,” he added.

In May of this year, the Rainforest Alliance also released its new seal, which can be used on product packaging and promotional materials from 1 September 2020. The new seal will eventually replace the current Rainforest Alliance Certified seal and the UTZ label. The new certification seal is a simple visual that shows consumers how to make a better choice and demonstrates that farmers and companies are taking steps to make their products more sustainable.

Key innovations of the Rainforest Alliance 2020 certification programme:

• Climate-smart agriculture: A climate-smart agriculture approach is vital for farmers and businesses around the world who need to adapt to a changing climate in order to secure the future of their crops and livelihoods, products, and supply chains. The 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard is inherently oriented towards climate-smart agriculture with a focus on adaptation and resilience.
• Human rights: A new “Assess-and-Address” approach to tackling human rights issues such as child labour, forced labour, discrimination, and workplace violence and harassment has been developed. Rather than imposing a simple ban that often drives the problem underground, Rainforest Alliance says the new approach focuses on assessing the risks and engaging local communities to work together to prevent and address the issues wherever and whenever they may occur.
• Improved data management: Better analysis of risks and measurement of performance, new digital tools for farmers and clearer performance insights for companies. Geospatial analysis is used to support and monitor performance against key requirements of the standard, such as the avoidance of deforestation.
• Shared responsibility: The programme seeks to address systemic imbalances in global supply chains, which put too much burden on producers alone to achieve more sustainable agricultural production. Buyers will have to reward producers for meeting sustainable agriculture standards by paying a mandatory ‘sustainability differential’ which is an additional cash payment over and above the market price for the sale of certified crops. Buyers will also need to provide investments to support producers to achieve their sustainability objectives and be transparent about those.
• Social and environmental requirements for supply chains: In the new certification programme, companies in the supply chain identified as having a high risk of negative social and environmental impacts will also need to implement improved practices. These include for instance ensuring decent working conditions and labour protections as well as wastewater management.
• Deforestation: Deforestation continues to be banned for certified producers, but prohibition will extend to the conversion of all natural ecosystems, including wetlands and peatlands, for more land to be protected and managed more sustainably.
• Risk-based requirements and assurance: The new certification programme is based on more in-depth risk assessment of the social and environmental risks to sustainable agricultural production in different crops and countries. Data from the risk assessment will be used to provide guidance to producers and companies on where to focus their improvements for maximum impact.

From September 2020, the Rainforest Alliance will start rolling out the certification programme around the world through a comprehensive global training programme and further development of supporting technology systems. From July 2021, all audits will be against the 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard. 

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The company has launched select editions of Zoégas whole beans and roast and ground coffee in Sweden. This ‘Summer 2020’ range is a 100% Rainforest Alliance certified blend of arabica coffee beans from three origins – Brazil, Rwanda and Colombia. Now, through blockchain-recorded data, coffee lovers will be able to trace their coffee back to its origins.

This is the first time Nestlé has partnered with a trusted third party – The Rainforest Alliance – to independently provide reliable data beyond what is usually disclosed. The Rainforest Alliance provides its own certification information, guaranteeing the traceability of the Nestlé coffee. This information is then directly accessible to everyone with the IBM Food Trust blockchain platform.

By scanning the QR code on the Nestlé packaging, consumers are able to follow the coffee’s journey from the growing locations to the Zoégas factory in Helsingborg where the beans are roasted, grounded and packed. The data includes information about farmers, time of harvest, transaction certificate for the specific shipments, as well as roasting period.

Nestlé started using blockchain in 2017 when it joined the IBM Food Trust as a founding member. Over the past three years, Nestlé has scaled up and diversified the use of blockchain platforms to bring its transparency and sustainability efforts to life for consumers. It started giving consumers access to blockchain with IBM on products such as Mousline purée and Guigoz infant formula in France. Together with OpenSC, Nestlé is also piloting open blockchain to monitor and openly communicate data related to the sustainability of milk and palm oil.

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The announcement comes one-year ahead of the timeline Walmart was aiming for when the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company announced a commitment in 2017 to make 100% of Walmart’s private brand coffee in its US stores 100% certified sustainably grown by 2020.

“Sustainability is at the heart of our ongoing mission to do right by people across the Walmart supply chain and across the planet. When our customers enjoy the aroma of our private brand coffee, we also want to ensure we’re meeting their expectations on quality and sourcing based on best-in-class, certified industry standards – all while delivering on everyday low prices,” said Ryan Isabell, Walmart Stores senior buying manager, coffee & cocoa, in a blog. “Our customers can now be certain that the coffee they’re buying from us was grown with care, by farmers working to build sustainable livelihoods and thriving communities.”

He added that Walmart is working with suppliers to increase traceability within its private brands. “That includes working with one of our coffee suppliers, Westrock Coffee, to offer visibility into their supply chain, all the way back to the coffee farmers at origin. It’s all part of a larger effort to create more transparency so customers can feel good about the items they purchase at our stores,” said Isabell, noting that Walmart became the first major North American retailer to join Conservation International’s Sustainable Coffee Challenge. The Challenge is a collaborative effort of companies, governments, non-governmental organisations, research institutions and others that aims to stimulate greater demand for sustainable coffee across the globe.

Walmart continues to be a driving force of sustainable action, coffee being just one area. In September, the company signed the “10x20x30” initiative, bringing together ten of the world’s biggest food retailers and providers to each engage with 20 of their priority suppliers to aim to halve rates of food loss and waste by 2030. This private sector commitment is designed to be a significant advancement toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 12.3, which calls for a 50% reduction in food loss and waste by 2030 worldwide. Overall, Walmart has shifted to embrace the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) business model – outlining strategies and initiatives in its first inaugural ESG report (released in May).

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