At the inaugural Women in Tea & Coffee event hosted by the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, we were proud to bring together industry professionals across tea and coffee to discuss the challenges and decisions at the heart of making our industries more sustainable. Hosted by our very own Category and Insight Manager, Richard Milner, the panellists included:
- Keely Wade, marketing manager, Lincoln & York
- Elizabeth Langdon, vice chair British Coffee Association and Equatorial Traders
- Vanúsia Nogueira, executive director, International Coffee Organisation
- Dr Sharon Hall, chief executive, UK Tea & Infusions Association
- Shabnam Weber, president, Tea & Herbal Association of Canada
- Dilara Celik, partnerships and communications manager, 4C
From challenges in supply and demand to the importance of transparent communication, read on to discover the insight shared around making the coffee and tea industries more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.
Supply and demand
It became clear early on in the conversation that addressing the imbalance of supply and demand in both coffee and tea is vital in establishing a more sustainable future for these industries.
If changes to the climate continue, the land suitable for growing coffee is predicted to decline by 50% between now and 2050, while demand for coffee in the same period is expected to double. Executive director of the International Coffee Organisation, Vanúsia Nogueira, noted that coffee harvests have been impacted by extreme weather conditions for the last 40 years, resulting in lower crops and high costs across the supply chain.
She outlined the incredible work of organisations like World Coffee Research, who we work closely alongside, in the creation of new more climate resistant varietals of coffee which are better placed to withstand extreme weather and produce a more reliable harvest.
It was interesting however to hear a very different, yet equally challenging, situation in the tea market. Chief executive of UK Tea & Infusions Association, Dr Sharon Hall shared how the industry faces oversupply which drive prices down, making it harder for small-scale farmers to maintain sustainable farming practices.
Support for farming communities
Leading from this, the conversation turned to better support for farming communities across both tea and coffee. Elizabeth Langdon, vice chair British Coffee Association and Equatorial Traders voiced how investment needs to be made at production level in order to improve quality and consistency and ease pressures throughout the entire supply chain.
Here our Marketing Manager, Keely Wade was able to share Lincoln & York’s work with Owani and Migoti Coffee to support the creation of a reservoir and improve working and living conditions for the coffee growing community of Burundi. Keely also explained how we support smaller farmers by purchasing via traders. These traders hold close relationships with farmers and farming communities and enable us to buy from independent small holdings, paying a fair price and living wage to support ongoing relationships.
Measurement and evaluation
Another key challenge discussed in making coffee and tea more sustainable is the question of measurement and evaluation. Partnerships and communications manager at 4C, Dilara Celik flagged the lack of uniformity in measurement for sustainability and how the bureaucratic demands of legislation like EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) run the risk of detracting from actual issues of sustainability.
Here, Vanúsia Nogueira shared some insightful research from the International Coffee Organisation which suggested that only between 2 and 3% of coffee growing areas were impacted by deforestation. She emphasised the need to balance the level of risk versus reward and work with producers to find solutions for their key issues, rather than prove our sustainability efforts through means which are more demanding and more expensive than the actions themselves.
Dr Sharon Hall voiced how the tea industry is still working on ways to measure the carbon footprint of tea and praised the coffee industry for its work in carbon evaluation. But this still doesn’t make reducing carbon in coffee entirely straight forward.
Despite being a Carbon Neutral roastery for the last two years, our work with One Carbon World shows that 30% of our carbon footprint is the result of gas roasting. Whilst there is innovation happening around the use of hydrogen roasting, this hasn’t yet reached the scale we need to roast 9000 tonnes of coffee a year, so these emissions remain unavoidable. Whilst we’re committed to finding a solution to this, in the meantime we have used carbon offsets to help achieve neutral status.
For many organisations there is a reticence to discuss carbon offsetting. In situations such as ours however, where the technology and infrastructure are not yet in place to reduce our emissions any further, we are proud to be offering innovative solutions and offsetting in ways which are helpful to the coffee growing communities directly impacted by the effects of climate change.
Transparent communication
The need for transparency in communication around sustainability in tea and coffee was a point we found ourselves repeatedly turning to. Keely shared Lincon & York’s research that showed whilst many consumers would say they’d like their coffee to be sustainable, when asked what their top priorities were in coffee purchases, sustainability ranked 9th while quality and taste rank top, closely followed by price.
This was echoed by Dr Sharon Hall with an emphasis on the need to communicate that coffee and tea doesn’t grow on supermarket shelves. Dilara Celik, summarised that overall we need more transparency in communications, not only to explain what organisations are doing from a sustainability perspective but also the challenges they face, in order for consumers to understand the supply chain and therefore the value chain that goes into their products.
Prompted by a question from the audience, we discussed how this can be done at a business level but also by individuals. From tea sommeliers to Q Graders, we can tell the stories behind these products and help grow appreciation for the efforts underway to keep these industries sustainable from an environmental, economic and social perspective.
Building a network
At Lincoln & York, we know we have a role to play in securing a more sustainable future for coffee communities and ensuring we can all enjoy great coffee for many more years to come.
This thought provoking event discussed and also demonstrated the importance of building networks, coming together and learning from each other. It is through this kind of collaboration, sharing challenges and successes, that we can make significant steps towards a more sustainable future for our coffee and tea industries.
Thank you to Tea & Coffee Trade Journal for a fantastic event and to our expert panel for sharing their incredible passion and valuable insight.
