COSTA RICA – During last month’s International Coffee Week (SINTERCAFE), an event that gathered more than 500 professionals of the coffee industry from around the world, Café de Costa Rica announced its commitment to becoming the world’s first fully environmentally sustainable coffee-producing region.
“With growing exports towards the United States, Europe, Japan, and Korea, Costa Rican coffee producers share the determination to efficiently respond to international demand by providing sustainable coffee beans all the while managing climate variables,” said Mr. Ronald Peters, Café de Costa Rica’s Executive Director.
“Our coffee production is an integral part of the history and identity of Costa Rica, and we are excited for our country to be the pioneer in taking measurable steps towards more sustainability,” he added.
To reach these objectives, Café de Costa Rica will implement the first-of-its-kind agricultural Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA), consisting of a set of mitigation of greenhouse effect gasses, energy-saving technologies and agronomical practices, in order to address ecological concerns while maintaining business growth.
These actions will help coffee growers and millers from all its eight regions (Brunca, Turrialba, Tarrazú, Orosi, Tres Rios, Central Valley, West Valley, and Guanacaste) tackle climate change without sacrificing local economies and overall profitability.
“Café de Costa Rica’s NAMA aligns with the country’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2021, and we have an opportunity to drive this change, in which the coffee industry from cradle to cup, should responsibly assume,” he added.
Monitored by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), registered in Warsaw, Poland, Café de Costa Rica’s NAMA will substantially help coffee producers improve resource efficiency as well as the quality of their crops and maintain the stability of their lands.
“By choosing to be 100% environmentally and socially responsible, Café de Costa Rica is improving producers’ economic and social livelihood, an ideal that we share with both our clients and consumers,” said Mr. Peters. “The commitments we have made will maintain employment for up to 150,000 jobs during the harvest period, having a positive impact on the standard of living of more than 400,000 people.”
To date, the United States is Costa Rica’s first export market in volume (52.35%).
About Café de Costa Rica
Costa Rica’s coffee plantations stretch along the country’s mountain range, covering an area of 84,133 hectares and producing highest-quality coffee with rich aromas and reduced acidity, exported globally, notably in the United States, Europe, and Japan.
ICAFE, Costa Rica Coffee Institute, is the non-governmental public entity in charge of supporting the nation’s entire process of research, coffee growing, milling, and export; guaranteeing the Producer to be the one with more percentage participation of the (FOB) price, and promoting Costa Rican coffee consumption within the country and abroad.
As part of its efforts, the Institute offers individual and group technical assistance to ensure the sustainable and environmentally coffee production.
It was established in 1933 by the law on the Regulation of Relations between Coffee Producers, Millers and Exporters, No. 2762 of 1961.
