NEW YORK, NY, U.S. — The National Coffee Association ( NCA ) and Conservation International today announced a new partnership to help coffee farmers adapt and thrive in the face of climate threats.
NCA, a leading industry-wide coffee association, has joined the Sustainable Coffee Challenge. Through the Challenge, hosted by Conservation International, coffee companies, civil society organizations, universities, and governments commit to make coffee the world’s first sustainable agricultural product.
The Sustainable Coffee Challenge, conceived by Conservation International and Starbucks and launched during the Paris climate meetings in 2015, is uniting players from across the coffee industry – growers, traders, roasters, retailers, governments and NGOs. It works to stimulate greater demand for sustainable coffee while forming partnerships to find and scale up programs promoting improved livelihoods, nature conservation and a continued supply of coffee.​
As part of the partnership, NCA President & CEO William (Bill) Murray joins the Sustainable Coffee Challenge Advisory Council, where he will leverage the technical, operational, and consumer expertise of NCA’s vast membership to help inform the Challenge’s strategy and support specific programs.
As the voice of the coffee industry in the United States, NCA will act as a conduit between more than 300 NCA members and the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, helping to drive deeper engagement between industry and the Challenge. NCA will use its voice to amplify the Challenge’s progress in helping coffee farmers thrive while protecting natural resources, combating climate change, and making coffee communities more resilient. NCA will also help share with its members some of the many sustainability resources created by the Sustainable Coffee Challenge.
​Signing a formal Memorandum of Understanding with the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, NCA President Bill Murray commented: “There is no coffee industry without coffee farmers. The entire value chain depends on coffee farmers thriving. NCA’s members are committed to helping coffee farmers earn a fair living while growing more coffee, more sustainably than ever,” said NCA President Bill Murray.
“Sustainability is not a choice, it is simply the way the coffee industry will do business. With Conservation International’s leadership, the Sustainable Coffee Challenge is a truly unique platform that should be a model for every agricultural community,” added Murray.
“We are delighted to welcome NCA as a partner of the Sustainable Coffee Challenge. NCA is uniquely positioned to mobilize its diverse membership to take action and safeguard the future of coffee on which the entire industry depends,” said Bambi Semroc, Vice President of Sustainable Markets and Strategy at Conservation International.
“The issues facing coffee communities are too complex for any stakeholder to address alone,” Semroc added. “When the entire supply unites to make coffee a thriving, environmentally-conscious commodity, everyone benefits – from farmers to consumers and everyone in between.”
