Reforestation Sierra Piura/ Peru:
Insights from business perspective
Towards Restorative Value Chains in Cocoa & Coffee Sectors
Amsterdam, December 10th 2013
What will be covered
Who we are
Understanding the problem & our approach to cc
Why we invest
Project results so far
Learnings
Scaling up opps
What’s needed
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Our Mission
Cafédirect is an independent
coffee, tea and cocoa company.
We champion the work & passion
of smallholder growers, delivering
great tasting drinks to improve
livelihoods, whilst pioneering
better ways of doing business
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What we stand for
SMALLHOLDER GROWN
DIRECTLY TRADED
Best tasting hot drinks because of
the pride & passion of smallholder
growers on small farms
Sourced in direct partnership with
growers to benefit everyone
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OVER 50% PROFITS
REINVESTED AT ORIGIN
Funding innovative projects to
strengthen grower businesses and
communities
Sustainability is part of our DNA..
.
From our origins as a Quaker owned
company, Bewley’s have always been
committed to working in a sustainable
and positive manner with both the
natural environment and the
communities within which we operate.
Understanding the problem
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Assessing carbon footprint:
selected coffee vs. tea vs. cocoa retail products
0.07
0.06
Consuming
Kg CO2e per cup
0.05
Storage &
Distributing
0.04
Packaging
(End of Life)
Packaging
(Creation)
0.03
Processing
0.02
Shipping to Europe
0.01
Producers
0
R&G: Medium
Roast
R&G:
Freeze dried:
Decaffeinated Cafédirect Classic
Medium Roast
Blend (IJ)
Everyday Tea
Retail SKU
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Everyday Tea
Decaff
Sao Tome Instant
- Add Water
Source: CD Carbon Footprint 2012
Our approach:
Farm-to-cup along full supply chain regardless if we
have control or influence
Look into full picture: hence we
consider adaptation as much as
mitigation on climate change
challenge
We seek collaboration to tackle the issues: b2b, publicprivate partnerships, engagement with end consumers
Integrated within our overall business strategy, not a
separate add-on
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Sustainability in Bewleys
The Milestones
1992
1996
•Irish Hospice Support
•Fairtrade Mark
2001 •IOGFA certification
•Direct farm relationship with Nicaragua
2004 •ISO14001 Environmental Mgt Standard
2006
•Founding member of government initiative: Traidlinks
2009 • Awarded Carbon Neutral Status
2010
•Carbon Disclosure Project - Carbon Leader
•Launch of our Sustainable Coffee Programme: beeco
2011 •ISO 14064 Green House Gases. verifies our GHG emissions
2012 •Origin Green Certification
2013 •Paul 0’Toole – Hon Consul of Nicaragua
Why we invest in climate change
Supply:
reinvest in our supply chain of conventional coffee
Triple-bottom-impact:
High social- environmental impact investment
Env: ‘Adaptation’ (or supporting farmers cope with effects of climate change) is built
into the design
Social: purchasing carbon credits to offset our emissions: “Making the carbon market
work for those usually left out”
Story:
This is a pioneering project that offers high quality carbon credits with a truly unique and
relevant story behind them = point-of-difference in marketplace
Intra-supply chain carbon trading
Unique carbon credit project: adaptation incorporated / ownership by smallholder farmers/
new approach in the market
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Carbon Neutral Coffee Roaster
• 2009: Bewley’s becomes Ireland’s 1st Carbon Neutral Coffee
Company.
– Bewley’s buying carbon offsets in order to be carbon neutral.
– Offsets were not from coffee related products or from coffee growing
regions.
– Wanted to investigate the relevant offsetting projects that could be sourced
from coffee growing regions.
– We wanted to invest in a “virtuous circle” of support between and Bewley’s
and coffee farms where we source our coffee from.
– This would ensure sustainable coffee supplies and farmers would benefit
financially.
• Early 2010: Café Direct introduces Bewley’s to Cepicafe project.
– Since 2011:
– 38 tonnes ($212,001) of coffee purchased from the project.
– 4,594 carbon credits ($72,767) bought.
Marketing Challenge:
Consumer Engagement!
• Develop a Bewley’s Branded ‘Environment’ Coffee Programme for the
Foodservice Trade (B2B).
The programme would be built on:

Coffee – the coffee supplied under this
programme is sourced from a carbon offsetting
coffee farm in Peru

Equipment – Energy Saving & Eco Friendly

Cup – fully compostable

Coffee Airpot (Vessel) Branding – produced on
recyclable material

PoS Materials e.g. Consumer brochures, Posters,
DL’s etc – produced on recyclable material

Coffee Station – built from upcycled coffee
grounds
Concept evolved from Bewley’s
sustainable supply chain initiatives
(internal) and growing demand in
the foodservice industry for
compostable ancillaries, ethically
sourced coffee and brewing
equipment that saves on energy
costs (external).
Compostable Cup Design
Getting
Consumers Involved!
Results so far for Cafédirect
Supply side:
too early to tell….. adaptation measures on farm will take 1-3 years to materialise in yield
improvement
Triple-bottom-impact:
Delivers big time on our overall impact as a company: our shareholders expect high socialenvironmental impact next to commercial
Tangible proof-point: action not words
Story:
Coverage of story in major UK broadsheet The Observer, in trade publication The Grocer
and environmental journal The Ecologist
White Paper prepared and circulated to wider public & media
Engaging video clip distributed via social media
Project used by Sales team to drive pod of brand with customers
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Success to Date
(impact on Foodservice Customers)
• Programme has been executed in multiple
Foodservice locations since launch in late 2012.
• 3 beeco branded coffee sku’s.
• Trade customers reporting, on average, a 7-10%
increase in their coffee sales to consumers after
beeco programme has been implemented on site.
Learnings
Supply
Needs stronger impact data to know what works best/ roi on adaptation side
Link up more with agricultural science community on this
Conflicting cycles: short term business  long term cc
Triple-bottom impact
Highly “technical” project – requires much support for local communities
Upfront finance requirements are very high
potential trade-offs between ecosystem services should be considered eg benefits
of planting fast-growing species for carbon capture versus increasing biodiversity
Story
Link to consumer around carbon is tricky in the UK market!
Comms works better on general smallholder farmer livelihoods
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Scaling up opps
Off-farm: approach of linking various communities is
promising eg reforestation, energy stoves, etc.
On-farm: more research/ tools on carbon capture available
eg soil, shade trees, biochar etc.
Intra supply chain approach: joining up on other end
However: restoring ecological processes requires medium
to long-term commitments to validate approaches and
expand to a scale to have significant impact
Finally: look beyond carbon – it is about sustainable
communities to ensure sustainable supply chains
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Future Challenges
• Sustainable supply of certified coffee.
• On going availability of carbon offsets to cover our
requirements.
• Communication to key stakeholders of “on the ground” activities
and benefits to the local producers.
• Continued consumer engagement and involvement.
• High costs to operators for compostable materials.
What is needed?
Complete re-think on how we measure business success
importance of Integrated Accounting
Hopefully not a supply crisis mentality like in cocoa but a
pro-active, positive engagement
More significant collaboration across & between industry,
public sector and academia/ scientific community
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