Which coffee brands tell their sustainability stories best?

by | Jul 31, 2019 | Blog

Whether it’s a flat white or an instant hit, most of us want to know that our coffee comes from sustainable sources.

Or so it may seem from the efforts by coffee brands to tell us about the source of their arabicas or robustas. 

Coffee is all about the story and most coffee brands have become expert story tellers.

We set out to find out if the leading coffee brands have a good story to tell about their sourcing, and how well they tell it – ranking their performance.   

We did the same a little while back for soft commodity traders – the companies that sell to the food processors and brands – finding a mixed performance. 

Given the high level of interest in coffee sustainability, our expectations were high for coffee.

We thought coffee brands would all have fascinating tales about their sourcing.  And would be telling them brilliantly on their websites.  Not so. Their performance is mixed, ranging from fresh-roasted to over-boiled.    

What we did

We looked at 11 major brands in Europe and the USA: Costa Coffee, Douwe Egberts, Dunkin Donuts, Illy, Keurig, Lavazza, McDonald’s, Nescafé, Nespresso, Starbucks and Taylors.

The inclusion of McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts in our list may seem surprising, but they sell a lot of coffee and make a big thing about the quality of their product.

How we did it

Our methodology is simple.  

First, we scored if the brand has a good story to tell – from 0 (poor) to 10 (excellent):

• Does the brand have a sustainable sourcing strategy with timebound and measurable goals that cover the environmental, social and economic issues facing coffee farms?

• Has the brand reported against its sustainability strategy since 2017?

Second, we scored how well the story is told – from 0 (poor) to 10 (excellent) across four categories:

• Messaging: Does the brand tell its sustainable sourcing story clearly and concisely?

• Liveliness: Has the brand shared progress in the last three months via a blog or news update?

• Multimedia: Does the brand make good use of videos and/or infographics to explain its sustainable sourcing strategy in a sharable, engaging way?

• Social media: How often does the brand share sustainable coffee sourcing posts on Twitter? On average, what level of engagement (comments, likes, shares) do these posts generate? (We chose Twitter because it is the most widely used by brands on sustainability issues).

And now the winners

The joint winners are McDonald’s and Nescafé.  Coming in a close third is Illy.

We’re not in the business of intentionally embarrassing people, so we don’t publish the full ranking.  We have been in touch with all 11 brands to share their ranking and to check that we got our facts right.

Read our report to find greater detail on our methodology and, more important, examples of good communications practice among the world’s leading coffee brands.

Which Coffee Brands Tell Their Sustainability Story Best? Email publications@contexteurope.com for a copy.

Farms, fisheries and forests: Does certification make a difference?

by | Jun 21, 2018 | Publications

Does-certification-make-a-difference

Download the report

Can sustainability certification help companies do good?

Does sustainability certification help make the world a better place? Can certifications, such as Fairtrade and Friend of the Sea, help companies reduce deforestation, tackle over-fishing and end poverty?

That’s what we set out to answer in our new report.

We examined online, publicly-accessible literature on 15 well-known standards (list below). This included assessments by academics, non-governmental organisations and by the certification programmes themselves.

We looked for evidence of positive change. We were disappointed by what we found.

Only half the major agriculture, fishery and forestry sustainability standards were shown to spark improvements under all their criteria.

This is especially worrying because we used a sympathetic methodology that looked for at least one example of positive change to award points.

We found examples of programmes helping improve the environment and worker livelihoods. But when you consider available data across commodities and geographies, the inescapable conclusion is that often no one knows if certification systems make a difference. There is insufficient evidence in the public domain.

No wonder major companies such as Mondelez, Unilever and Sainsbury’s are moving away from certification in favour of their own programmes. This trend could grow unless certification systems start demonstrating impact that justifies costs. Those who run programmes must provide evidence that their systems work. Otherwise the programmes risk becoming irrelevant.

Who’s in the report?

The 38-page report Farms, fisheries and forests: Does certification make a difference?  collates available data on whether certification drives positive change for the following programmes:

  • Bonsucro
  • Fairtrade
  • Friend of the Sea
  • Forest Stewardship Council
  • GlobalG.A.P.
  • Linking Environment and Farming
  • Marine Stewardship Council
  • Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification
  • Rainforest Alliance
  • Red Tractor
  • Round Table on Responsible Soy
  • Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
  • Skylark
  • Sustainable Rice Platform
  • UTZ

Note: Rainforest Alliance and UTZ have merged.