Coffee has a number of classifications used to determine the participation of growers (or the supply chain) in various combinations of social, environmental, and economic standards.
This term has entered the lexicon and this segment has quickly grown into a multibillion-dollar industry of its own with potentially significant implications for other commodities as demand and awareness expand.
Coffee has several types of classifications used to determine the participation of growers (or the supply chain) in various combinations of social, environmental, and economic standards.
The term "sustainable coffee" was first introduced in expert meetings convened by the Smithsonian Institution Migratory Bird Center (SMBC), NAFTA's Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and the Consumer Choice Council (CCC) in 1998.
The SMBC contributed some of the earliest evidence of the environmental impacts occurring in some of the most important coffee growing regions of Central America.
It noted that "differentiated segments", in which certified coffees such as organic and fair trade are included, "can provide producers with competitive advantages and added value."
The same World Bank report identified that the production of such sustainable coffees had expanded beyond mostly Latin American origins to include modest exports from Africa and Asia.
Most certifications are now widely available not only in specialty stores and cafés but also in major supermarkets and under national brand names of global food companies such as Kraft and Sara Lee.
In 2021, media outlets reported that the world's first synthetic coffee products have been created by two bioeconomy companies, still awaiting regulatory approvals for near-term commercialization.
Resources for the Future, a research think tank, undertook a broad literature review in 2010 and identified 37 relevant studies, only 14 of which use methods likely to generate credible results.
[22] Certification initiatives rely on consumer choice, a neoliberal intervention which can incite NGOs to prioritize market growth as opposed to the ecological and humanitarian protection at the core of the organization.
COSA emerged from the concerns of coffee industry practitioners about the lack of knowledge and sound scientific inquiry on what happens in the process of adopting sustainability initiatives.