VEVEY, Switzerland – Nespresso and social impact start-up, OpenSC, have revealed a technology-based collaboration that brings new levels of transparency to the Nespresso Reviving Origins organic coffee, Kahawa ya Congo. Through the partnership with Nespresso, OpenSC’s technology is being used to trace every bag of coffee digitally and securely from the 1,185 smallholder farms of the Amka Cooperative in South Kivu, all the way to the consumer.
The AMKA Cooperative was selected to take part in the program from among multiple cooperatives in DRC that Nespresso sources from.
The OpenSC platform automatically verifies that each farmer receives the correct Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program premium directly for exactly the coffee they produced – either via mobile money or cash.
Markus Mutz, CEO of OpenSC said: “Our partnership with Nespresso shows the power of technology to drive new levels of transparency and accountability into the furthest reaches of the supply chain.
“Trustworthy data – captured at source and stored immediately in a tamper-proof way – is a powerful tool that enables companies like Nespresso to make progress towards their sustainability commitments – and to build trust with increasingly eco-conscious consumers and stakeholders.”
Global Head of Sustainability at Nespresso, Jérôme Perez, commented: “The communities of North and South Kivu have been through so much in recent years and, having met coffee farmers in the region, this project and its potential for positive impact on their lives and livelihoods is very close to my heart.
“Transparency and traceability to the growing communities and farms has been a fundamental part of our AAA sourcing for nearly 20 years, and the collaboration with OpenSC is bringing new state of the art technology to facilitate this. The exciting program allows our customers, for the first time, to follow the journey of their coffee and explore the impact it is having.”
Each of the sleeves of Nespresso coffee verified and traced by OpenSC carries a QR code, enabling customers to retrace the steps their coffee has taken and verify the producers of this outstanding coffee received fair reward.
OpenSC’s solution uses a Public Blockchain to create a tamper-proof digital log of the coffee’s journey, recording when, where, and by whom it was grown, collected, processed, and shipped. It also provides assurance to customers that every farmer receives the right payment, verified automatically.
The data can be accessed by third parties, to provide transparency, accountability, and confidence that no one has tampered with the primary data collected at source.
Ecolabels provide reassurance to time-poor consumers that products have been responsibly and sustainably produced, but consumers increasingly expect transparency and tangible proof of impacts. Automated verification systems at source, which are increasingly viable as technology costs decrease, enable brands to meet this demand.
Sharing primary data about sustainable production allows producers to build trust with consumers in a unique way.
The verified KAHAWA ya CONGO product SKU is available in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Israel, Iceland, United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary.
