Harnessing the collective power for the bright future of coffee

This week is Fairtrade campaign week in Finland. The purpose of the week is to remind all of us about the power of our purchasing decisions in driving more sustainable consumption patterns. We at Paulig put sustainability thinking at the core of our business and it shows in many ways. For example we roast coffee with renewable energy in Finland and put a lot of effort into development of bio-based packaging materials. We want to offer a wide range of products and services that make it a little bit easier to make more sustainable choices every day. One good way is to choose products with sustainability certifications, such as Fairtrade, UTZ and Rainforest Alliance. We have a wide range of certified coffees and this week we have introduced a new dark roast Fairtrade-Organic “Reilusti Tumma Mundo” coffee. We also buy coffee through carefully selected partnership programmes and our Presidentti-range will be made exclusively with these coffees in the future.

 

 

There are approximately 25 million coffee farmers in the world and about 70 per cent of coffee in the world is grown in small farms of less than two hectares in size. These coffee farmers are local entrepreneurs that are doing their best to make a living while battling the challenges posed by a changing climate. In order to build a bright future of coffee, we need to place the coffee farmers’ livelihoods and climate resilience as a top priority and collaborate with the right partners to drive change on a bigger scale. This is why we already have several partnerships in place and are launching new collaborations in the key coffee origins we source from with a long-term commitment to sustainability in mind. One example is our recently extended co-operation with Fairtrade, where we started together in 2016 a development programme in the Sidama region in Ethiopia. Main goals of the programme are to increase the profitability of coffee farming, the quality of the coffee crops and contribute to the well-being of the entire community. It currently covers 12 co-operatives with over 25 000 coffee farmers. It is also supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland through Finnpartnership. 

 

I think that buying sustainably certified coffees and engaging deeply in partnerships for sustainable development are the right things to do for the future coffee growing generations, health of the planet and also important for us as a business. We want to secure the availability of high quality coffees from a diverse range of beautiful coffee countries for people to enjoy. We hope that these efforts are appreciated among those who enjoy Paulig coffees now and in the future.

 

Read more about our sustainability work and partnership programmes in different coffee origins.
 

I will next in December be sharing with you an update about our longest standing collaboration with International Coffee Partners after a visit to ICP regional programme in Brazil. Stay tuned!