ARLINGTON, Va., U.S. — The Sustainable Coffee Challenge welcomes illycaffè among its partners working towards making coffee the world’s first sustainably grown agricultural product. The addition of illy will bring the list of Sustainable Coffee Challenge partners to 100.
The initiative is part of illy’s longstanding commitment to creating economic, social and environmental value, while improving the quality of life of its stakeholders through ethics and excellence.
Through the Ernesto Illy Foundation, the company actively promotes reforestation efforts in Támara, Colombia, with native trees planted near sources of water aiming to increase local, natural water flow.
“Having an iconic Italian coffee brand like illy join the Challenge is a major milestone for the Challenge,” said Bambi Semroc, Vice President Sustainable Markets and Strategy at Conservation International.
“We believe that this will help drive demand for sustainable coffee and catalyze investments to tackle tough challenges facing the future of coffee, such as climate change.”
“Sustainability for us is the other face of quality. One cannot exist without the other and we cannot pursue our founder’s dream of offering the greatest coffee to the world without continuing to improve our sustainability model,” said Andrea Illy, Chairman of illycaffè s.p.a.
“We are motivated and inspired to join the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, as we share these fundamental values and the goal of making coffee a true model of sustainable agricultural practice. To make this a reality, the global coffee community needs to come together and join efforts on many levels.”
The Sustainable Coffee Challenge, formed 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 aims to stimulate greater demand for sustainable coffee while partnering to find solutions to mitigate impacts of climate change and other stressors.
illy is the Sustainable Coffee Challenge’s 100th partner. Other recent additions include Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA and Tata Coffee. To join as a partner in the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, contact scc@conservation.org.
