Manifesto
If farmers can’t make a living growing coffee, they’ll stop.
And right now 80% of them aren’t earning enough to do basic things like feed their families and get medical help when they’re sick.
Changing the way coffee is bought and sold is the only way to guarantee the future of our daily drink – and the people who make it.
Our Manifesto for the Future of Coffee lays out exactly how we’re doing that.
Here’s how we’re making sure that coffee has a future
By 2030
Every farmer we buy from will have the skills, support, and power to earn more than a living income.
We’ll have made enough changes to the way we run our business that we’ll have cut our own carbon footprint in half.
Our approach to business will be so successful that instead of just breaking from the coffee pack we’ll be leading it in this new direction.
The work we do and the ideas we share will have motivated 15 million people to do at least one thing to make their life more sustainable.
1.Growers
By 2030 every farmer we buy from will have the skills, support, and power to earn more than a living income.
Why it’s smart
The coffee industry won’t survive without its growers. And they won’t survive if they can’t invest in their farms and take care of their families. So we find out what they need to do that – then make sure they get it.
HOW WE’RE MAKING IT HAPPEN
By 2030 every farmer we buy from will have the skills, support, and power to earn more than a living income.
We’ll always pay decent prices for our coffee, listening to our growers rather than the market. We’ll carry on supporting local cooperatives by paying extra money for things like Fairtrade and organic farming. We’ll get relevant local people to help us understand what a living income looks like in each country we buy from. And we’ll make sure that everyone in the supply chain gets the same treatment – including people like hired seasonal workers, who often get missed.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
By 2030, we will pay at least living income reference prices[1] for 100% of the coffee we buy direct from farming cooperatives.
[1] https://www.fairtrade.net/issue/living-income-reference-prices
Young people are seeing for themselves that coffee farming is unfair – a lot of effort for very little money. So our growers don’t have anyone stepping up to support and carry on their work. There’s also too many things that stop women earning their own living and having real power and influence in their working lives. So that’s halving the number of possible future farmers. We’ll be proactive in making sure both women and younger people get the education and support they need to be meaningfully involved in the coffee business.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
By 2030, women will represent 50% of the farmers benefiting from our activities. We’ll ensure that our work is well designed to meet the needs of the next generation of coffee farmers by involving youth in the delivery of the majority of our activities.[1]
[1] All the training we offer comes through our sister charity Producers Direct, which is run by growers – so our farmers are being supported by people who get their context and share their experiences.
Keeping their farming knowledge up to date and learning new skills often takes time and money our growers don’t have. We’ll make sure they can get the knowledge they need to grow their business, protect their farms against climate change, and make their work sustainable – whether that takes training in micro finance, technology, sustainable agriculture, or new markets. We’ll also keep supporting local cooperatives so there are more opportunities for growers to share their knowledge and experience with each other.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
By 2030, we will be supporting the majority of farmers in our network to access training, information services and the necessary support to put things into practice. Our work will have contributed to 80% of farmers having increased confidence to mitigate the various risks they face and closing the living income gap.
2.Community
By 2030 the work we do and the ideas we share will have motivated15 million people to do at least one thing to make their life more sustainable.
Why it’s smart
We can’t change the world alone. But if the things we make, do, and say can help people change even one small habit then together we’ll have done something meaningful.
HOW WE’RE MAKING IT HAPPEN
We don’t expect everyone to care as much about this manifesto as we do. So we’ll focus on making sure the simple act of drinking coffee has a decent impact on the world. That takes a lot of hard work and smart thinking. So whether it’s how our coffee tastes, how we keep it fresh, or how our customers get rid of the packaging when they’re done, we’ll always be looking for a better way to do things.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
By 2030, you’ll be able to reuse or recycle 100% of our product packaging at kerbside and any raw materials (like coffee grounds or filters) will be fully compostable.
We’ll put time, money, and thought into our brand so that people stop and take notice. Once we’ve got their attention we’ll use it to clearly explain the problems the coffee industry is facing, what we’re doing about that, and how they can get on board. That way living and buying sustainably becomes something more people understand and actually want to do. And as well as sharing our ideas in informal, public spaces we’ll get involved with formal education too. We’ll help shape university business programmes so that the next set of people who run and own companies will be more likely to do that in a way that puts people and planet before profit.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
By 2030, when people come across something we’ve said or done at least half of the time it will be about sustainability.
Manifestos don’t make change – people do. So we’ll stay focused on giving them practical ways to make a difference. Drinking our coffee will be one of them. But we’ll also point them to other purposeful products they can buy, simple lifestyle choices they can change, and campaigns they can give their voice to. And we’ll work with and shout about other groups trying to help people live more sustainably.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
By 2030, 1 million people will have done something to make their life more sustainable because of the ideas that we and our partners have shared.
3.Environment
By 2030 we’ll have made enough changes to the way we run our business that we’ll have cut our own carbon footprint in half.
Why it’s smart
If we want the earth to give us coffee, we can’t strip it of the things it needs to do that. That means finding new ways to work – both in how growers manage their farms and how we run our business – that will protect the environment as well as restoring the damage humans have already done.
HOW WE’RE MAKING IT HAPPEN
We’ll work to only use renewable energy – in both our offices and our roastery. We’ll make sure as much as possible of the coffee we buy is farmed organically (right now 59% of our coffee is organic and we’re always pushing for more). And we’ll use our partnerships with local cooperatives to give all our suppliers the information and support they need to make and meet their own environmental goals.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
By 2030, we’ll have cut both our direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions[1] by 50%.
[1] This means cutting both our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 50% compared to what they were in 2019.
It’s almost impossible to never use new materials. But we can make sure that what we do use sticks around as long as possible and is either recycled or returned to the earth when it finally gets to the end of its life. So we’ll be relentlessly inventive in making every part of our supply chain more sustainable – from how our coffee is grown, processed, and moved to how it’s packaged, sold, and drunk. And through our leadership in groups like the British Coffee Association we’ll work to bring our whole industry along with us.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
From 2025, all of our new products will be circular in design – so we use fewer new materials to make them, and when they’re done they can be either recycled or biodegraded.
We want the coffee we buy to have been farmed in a way that protects and benefits the environment, as well as making things better and fairer for farmers. But it’s not our job to tell growers how to do theirs. That’s why we haven’t written our own guidelines on sustainable agriculture – we support the Fairtrade Sustainable Agriculture Policy[1], which has been written with and for local farmers. Our job is to make sure growers have the money, training, and support they need to switch to the sustainable agriculture practices in the policy. And to do that through groups like cooperatives, so other farming communities around them can be supported to do the same.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
By 2030, 100% of the coffee we buy will have been grown in a way that fits with Fairtrade’s Sustainable Agriculture Policy.
[1] Like Fairtrade we support the principles of agroecology: https://www.fairtrade.net/library/policy-position-sustainable-agriculture-under-fairtrade-terms
4.Business
By 2030 our approach to business will be so successful that instead of just breaking from the coffee pack we’ll be leading it in this new direction.
Why it’s smart
We can’t guarantee the future of coffee all on our own. So we’re open about our goals, why they matter, and exactly what it takes to reach them – making it easy for other companies to follow our lead.
HOW WE’RE MAKING IT HAPPEN
Talk is cheap. Making this manifesto a reality is what will prove that our approach to business isn’t just the right thing to do – it actually works. Then there’ll be no excuse for other coffee companies not to adopt it. So we’ll be open about what we learn and keep sharing evidence of how the things we’re doing are making a tangible difference for everyone in the coffee game.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
By 2030, our work will have grown the amount of ethical and sustainably sourced Roast and Ground coffee sold in the UK retail market from 33% to 50%.
The challenges we’re tackling aren’t only faced by farmers. They’re big global problems. So we’ll keep partnering with – and learning from – others working to solve them. Together with voices like the British Coffee Association and the Better Business Act[1] we can make sure more companies see the results of working this way and commit to the same approach.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
By 2030, we’ll have got half of the UK’s coffee brands to show they pay a living income price for their coffee – and for the amount that makes a living income to be decided by relevant local people in each country.
[1] https://betterbusinessact.org/
We’re already a certified B Corp and we’ll do everything it takes to stay that way. We’ll also try to up our score every time we’re assessed. We check over our ethics and environmental policies regularly, so they stay relevant – and we’ll make sure that every part of our supply chain (including our own business) lives up to them. We’ll also be open about how the reality matches up to our targets.
How we’ll know we’re making progress
By 2025, anyone who wants to know the prices we’ve paid for coffee from each country we buy from (instead of just what we’ve paid for our coffee overall) will be able to find out easily in our annual Progress Report.
Respect for the earth
Producers Direct
Progress Reports
