Publication of the newly revised Coffee Sustainability Reference Code

The Global Coffee Platform has released its newly revised Coffee Sustainability Reference Code, offering a common language for the sector to collectively advance farmers’ prosperity, social well-being, and nature conservation.

Following completion of a broad international public consultation, the Global Coffee Platform has published the Coffee Sustainability Reference Code, which provides a foundation to support the primary principles of sustainable coffee production.

This reference code offers a common language to enable farmers, producer organizations and their business partners, as well as donors, NGOs, financial institutions and governments to advance their coffee sustainability efforts, collaboratively and effectively.

The Coffee Sustainability Reference Code provides sustainability stakeholders with a simplified and fit-for-purpose framework to foster better understanding of principles that support baseline sustainable coffee production. It addresses ongoing challenges in the coffee sustainability landscape as well as key emerging concerns such as climate change, or diversity, equity and inclusion.

Centred on the three dimensions of economic prosperity, social well-being, and environmental stewardship, the Coffee Sustainability Reference Code outlines 12 principles, broken down into practices and expected results that describe baseline sustainability for coffee production and primary processing. The code also defines five critical practices: elimination of the worst forms of child labour, elimination of forced labour, no deforestation, no use of prohibited pesticides, and the newest addition, continuous improvement.

Download the Coffee Sustainability Reference Code here.