“I consider the company seal to be marketing”: How to drink fair and sustainable coffee

One kilo of conventionally grown coffee produces around 15 kilos of CO2. But it is also much more sustainable and fairer. Bild: Moment RF / Irina Marwan

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Analysis

“I think the company seal is marketing”: How to drink really fair and sustainable coffee

Coffee was highly political in the Ottoman Empire. At times the hot drink was forbidden, anyone who wanted to take a cup had to dive underground and was followed. In the meantime, the times in which coffee houses had to be disguised as barber shops are over and a cup of coffee is part of the morning like brushing your teeth: you cannot leave the house without it. But what about the ecological balance of the beans, which are now mainly grown in Central and South America? What seals should we look out for? And could climate change spoil our morning caffeine kick?

As for the carbon footprint, scientists from University College London recently brought it up in a study In a nutshell: 15 kilograms of carbon dioxide are released until one kilo of conventionally produced coffee from Brazil is grown, processed and brought to Europe – that’s about as much as one kilo of beef. Incidentally, the researchers classified coffee latte and cappuccino as particularly harmful to the climate, because milk is anything but climate-friendly.

“There is also the question of the water footprint,” says Claudia Brück, board member of Fairtrade, to watson. Because for a single cup of conventionally produced coffee, around 140 liters of water are needed to grow the beans. “With the irrigation systems and the peeling, however, you can improve a lot – for example, if the water is collected and used again,” says Brück. Food from the other end of the world is then not per se more climate-damaging than domestic products. “A domestic apple that is chilled in our house until March has a worse carbon footprint than a fresh one from Chile.”

In addition to the expandable carbon footprint, coffee brings with it other problems: It often grows in monocultures that leach out the soil. In addition, it is often grown by small farmers who are exposed to price pressure from international traders. Although the latte macchiato costs five euros in our café, two dollars a day is not uncommon for coffee farmers.

Only five percent of the coffee is fair

And this despite the fact that coffee has been on the shelves of world shops – and now every supermarket – that is supposed to guarantee farmers a fair price – thanks to the initiative of organizations like Fairtrade. “We determine how high the costs for sustainable production are, i.e. what it costs to cultivate a product from a social and ecological point of view, and on this basis we define the minimum price,” says Claudia Brück. There is also a bonus that the farmers can invest at their own discretion, for example in warehouses or in training measures. And: The farmers can organize themselves and thus strengthen their position on the world market.

But as natural as it is to order coffee with more sustainable oat or soy milk in any halfway hip city café, the question of fair trade coffee is just as unusual. Only about five percent of the coffee bought in Germany comes from fair trade. “Very few people drink coffee out of political conviction, and consumers pay even less attention to sustainable criteria when out and about in a café than in the supermarket,” says Brück. Because coffee is not a growth market, Fairtrade coffee would have to win shares from other brands or they would have to be persuaded to join the initiative.

So far, many large companies don’t want that. One of them is Lavazza. “We have been pursuing our own sustainability program for over 20 years and have supported 24 projects in 17 countries with the Lavazza Foundation,” explains Susanne Wegen, Lavazza Managing Director for Germany and Austria, in an interview with watson. “In addition to promoting sustainable coffee cultivation in social and ecological aspects, it is also about taking individual and selective approaches and promoting local projects.” In particular, education in the coffee-growing regions is in the foreground, says Weg, and is in all respects identical with fair trade.

Claudia Brück from Fairtrade is generally critical of companies declaring their products as sustainable. “When companies offer ‘sustainable bananas’ that are neither organic nor fair, for example, one wonders what is sustainable about them and why the clearly regulated standards are not being adhered to.” In the case of own seals, the question of credibility also arises. “I therefore consider the company seal without external certification to be a marketing tool”says Brück. An external certification that we can look out for when buying is, in addition to the Fairtrade seal, also the EU organic seal. With the latter, Lavazza has certified some types of coffee – of 16 types of ground beans, however, this only applies to one.

Coffee farmers are already feeling climate change today

Brück believes that the fact that so little fair trade and organic coffee has been drunk so far is also due to the higher prices. She therefore calls for a supply chain law. After all, Fairtrade coffee is only more expensive because standards are adhered to and transparency is documented. “If everyone has to take care of how the coffee is produced, the very cheap prices will disappear.” Lavazza does not want to comment on a supply chain law. Just this much: “We regularly evaluate all points in the value chain. We are looking for the perfect quality with high demands on social and ecological compatibility, not the best price.”

Regardless of the environment, coffee consumption could be over in a few years anyway. Climate change is already causing problems for coffee farmers. Storm Eta devastated the coffee fields from Nicaragua to Guatemala last year. And the rain also comes more irregularly – which in turn means that traditionally grown coffee plants are more susceptible to disease. “There are studies that say that by 2050 only ten percent of the current area can be used to grow coffee,” says Brück. “Manufacturers are already noticing the consequences of climate change – and they are the ones who contribute the least to CO2 emissions.”

What could help them: That of course the big coffee companies are also affected – and obviously have an interest in mitigating the consequences of climate change. “With our foundation, we create technologies for irrigation systems so that people learn how to deal with the impact of climate change”says Susanne Weg from Lavazza. “We are now also taking care of reforestation, for example in Ethiopia and Peru – this is also important so that healthy and sustainable coffee can be grown.” Fairtrade also supports the cultivation of resistant plants.

Coffee is also climate-friendly

With all this knowledge, the coffee may taste a bit bitter – but removing it from the conference call, Sunday brunch or cake table entirely is not an option for most. And the scientists of the study mentioned at the beginning also show how greenhouse gas emissions can be saved when drinking coffee. If the coffee is produced sustainably, i.e. planted without artificial fertilizers and instead of traveling by ship by ship around the world, the values ​​are reduced to a quarter. Paying attention to seals and certificates is therefore worthwhile. Anyone who uses oat or soy milk instead of cow’s milk will receive an extra star for their climate-friendly coffee.

But not only the coffee itself is decisive, but also how it is drunk. To-go in a disposable cup is obviously not a good idea, so bring your own cup for out-of-home coffee. And the method of preparation also plays a role: heating up hot water in a kettle takes less energy than starting a coffee machine. Soluble coffee naturally creates less waste than coffee capsules or pods.

The latter are increasingly being offered made of compostable materials, but compostable is a flexible term. Deutsche Umwelthilfe considers most of the supposedly ecological capsules to be greenwashing. “Apparently degradable coffee capsules may not be disposed of in the organic waste bin according to the waste and fertilizer law, lead to increasing sorting and disposal costs and can contaminate the compost with plastic residues”, writes the German environmental aid.

Theoretically, instant coffee causes the least amount of waste – but in terms of taste it really isn’t for everyone. Especially since it is often more difficult to find out where ground coffee comes from – and how it was grown. Here it is worthwhile to stop by the small roastery in the neighborhood and ask what standard the coffee was traded according to. Without any undercover use in the underground. Fortunately, drinking coffee is now completely legal.