[6] The COSA indicator development process was inaugurated through the International Coffee Organization whose Council unanimously endorsed it, making it the first sustainability assessment system to be formally adopted by a global commodity body.

[12] The report summarized the findings of the pilot application of the COSA tool to collect and analyze data to facilitate understanding of environmental, social, and economic outcomes associated with sustainability initiatives in the coffee sector.

[13] In 2012, led by its founder and President Daniele Giovannucci,[14][15] the structure and constitution of COSA was formalized as an independent non-profit organization incorporated under United States law to advance research and training in the field of sustainability.

[18][19][20] COSA partners with research and development institutions to adopt, integrate, and build local sustainability measurement and evaluation capacity in the countries where it works,[11] as well as for bilateral learning.

[21] The work, commissioned by the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling (ISEAL) Alliance with support of the Ford Foundation, evolved methods for assessing the impacts of multiple sustainability certifications on the lives of farmers, their organizations, and communities.

[34][35] According to a Cheddar News interview with COSA’s founder, issues that major firms are looking at include digital traceability, return on sustainability investment and living income for farmers.

In a 2018 keynote address[49] COSA Board Chair Daniele Giovannucci asserted that a new wave of development funding was emerging, led by private companies and investment, with less focus on altruism and more on competitiveness and risk management.