JDE Peets and Fairtrade announce measures against deforestation – 02/19/2024 – Café na Prensa

Large companies in the coffee sector and international organizations have announced some concrete measures in the area of ​​socio-environmental sustainability, in rare gestures that go beyond mere ESG rhetoric (good environmental, social and governance practices).

Fairtrade International has updated its standards to expand deforestation prevention. From now on, the organization will require certified producers and exporters to “strengthen the prevention, monitoring and mitigation of deforestation”.

Also according to Fairtrade, the new standards meet and in some cases go beyond the requirements established by the European Union Regulation for Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR), which prohibits the import of products from areas with identified deforestation until December 2020.

The new standard requires coffee cooperatives to develop a prevention and mitigation plan. In addition, they must monitor deforestation, which, according to the organization, will be facilitated by a satellite platform provided by Fairtrade itself.

Also this week, JDE Peet’s, a giant in the sector that owns several brands around the world, announced the launch of a program to combat coffee-related deforestation in several countries.

The company, which in Brazil owns labels such as Pilão and L’Or, partnered with the sustainability platform Enveritas to adopt a strategy that involves satellite images, artificial intelligence and verification on site.

With revenues of US$8.2 billion (R$40.7 billion) in 2022, JDE Peet’s says the objective of the measure is to allow “local operators, governments, NGOs and farmers to better mitigate their deforestation risks” .

Initially, the project should be restricted to Vietnam, Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania and Uganda, but JDE says it hopes to extend the partnership to more countries in the coming months.

The project uses the same time frame as the European standard. Thus, it aims to ensure that the exported coffee was not grown in an area deforested after 2020.

The company also says that, “if the coffee does not meet these requirements, JDE Peet’s will support local authorities, NGOs and farmers to reforest the land.” It is not clear, however, how this support will be provided.

As published by Coffee in the Press, the anti-deforestation standard approved by the European Union triggered a race for traceability in coffee farming. This is because the law establishes requirements such as the obligation to prove that the product was not grown in an area deforested after December 2020.

Approved last year, it will come into force on December 30th this year. Experts say that Brazil is one of the countries best able to adapt to the demands of the European bloc, as it has more structured farms than countries in Central America and Africa.

Still in the ESG area, Costa Coffee, the largest coffee shop chain in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in the world, announced on Thursday (15) an update to its labor practices. The company decided to increase the minimum salary for its baristas by 9% from April.

As a result, professionals who work in more than 1,500 stores on British soil will be entitled to a minimum remuneration of 12 pounds sterling (R$75) per hour. The company says that, in total, 15 thousand professionals will be covered by the measure.

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