Wake up to fairtrade...coffee.

Nespresso Ecolaboration with The Rainforest Alliance

The premium coffee producer Nespresso has launched its latest special edition coffee, ‘Dhjana’, which is the first limited edition blend to be sourced entirely from farms within the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality Programme. This scheme works directly with the Rainforest Alliance to help protect both the future of the environment and the livelihoods of the coffee farmers.

Many coffee farmers, especially smallholders, are vulnerable to volatile marketing conditions for coffee, unpredictable weather patterns and rising farm management costs, while poverty and urbanisation in certain coffee growing regions also make it difficult for coffee growers to plan for the future. The AAA Programme provides support and technical training to coffee growers to help increase productivity, which benefits growers economically and socially. They also pay a premium of about 15% above that of coffees of a similar quality, which puts more money directly into the pocket of the coffee farmer and helps to guarantee a long-term relationship.

The AAA Programme also enables farmers to adopt more sustainable agricultural practises, which go a long way towards protecting our planet. Nespresso growers are close to meeting the standards required for Rainforest Alliance Certification, which protects both the natural environment and the lives of its workers, and once this certification has been achieved farmers can charge a premium even for the coffee they choose not to sell to Nespresso. Nespresso aim to source 80% of its coffee from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms by 2013.

In addition to this, by 2013 Nespresso intend to put systems in place that have the capacity to recycle 75% of its aluminium capsules. Ultimately, it will be up to the consumer to use these facilities and see that this recycling does happen, but as a company, Nespresso do seem to be leading the charge towards sustainability.