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What is the link between coffee and deforestation?

14 January 2025

What is the link between coffee and deforestation?

How does coffee drinking in Europe contribute to global deforestation?

The EU is the world's biggest consumer of coffee.

But coffee is a major driver of global deforestation, as farmers in places as disparate as Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia, clear forests to make way for plantations.

In 2018 (the latest year data is available for) EU coffee imports were responsible for an estimated 14,750 hectares of deforestation (equivalent to 21,000 football pitches).

This was the third highest deforestation risk of any of the agricultural commodities imported by the EU, behind soy and beef, and higher than palm oil, cocoa and natural rubber. 

 

Who are the smallholders in coffee supply chains?

Twenty-one per cent of the world's coffee is produced on estates and farms larger than 50 hectares. 

Nineteen per cent comes from estates and farms between five and 50 hectares in size.

The remaining 60% comes from 12.5 million smallholder coffee farmers with less than five hectares

This is roughly twice the number of smallholder producers of other commodities with a high deforestation risk, such as oil palm, rubber and cocoa.

 

What is the EU doing to tackle the deforestation in its coffee supply chains?

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) aims address the biggest driver of deforestation on the planet: clearing land for agricultural production. Under the law, companies wanting access to the EU market must prove that products made from cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee and rubber are deforestation-free. The EUDR introduces traceability requirements on these commodities, and bans products whose origins cannot be verified. 

 

How traceable is the coffee which is sold in the EU?

Unlike many commodities, a large proportion of coffee imports have only undergone primary processing, meaning they are in a single form (i.e. coffee beans).

This contrasts with commodities such as palm oil, soy, leather and natural rubber where primary processing results in a number of separate products. A proportion of palm oil and soy imports have, for example, undergone several stages of processing (and the associated transportation and aggregation) prior to import.

In addition, the number of imported products containing coffee is relatively small, compared to soy and palm oil (but is more similar to cocoa).

In short, the EU's coffee supply chains are less complex than other commodities which fall under the EUDR's scope

 

Are coffee companies ready to comply with the EUDR? 

Many coffee companies have the building blocks in place to comply with the EUDR, but need to do more work. For example, many major coffee companies such as Nestlé, JDE Peet’s and Starbucks have existing – and often long-established – commitments to exclude deforestation from their coffee supply chains. However, some of these companies are using certification schemes which do not guarantee deforestation-free coffee. For example, the so-called “territorial” approach does not allow for full traceability in the supply chain, as is required in the EUDR. 

As a result, only an insufficient subset of companies are explicitly working towards being compliant with the EUDR.

 

How can we support coffee smallholders?

Coffee smallholders - many of whom already struggle to make a living - must not bear the burden of complying with the EUDR. 

Coffee companies must pay them a living income and provide them with long-term contracts, targeted investments, technical and financial support. 

 

Written in conjunction with CoffeeWatch

Image by Wojciech Pacześ/Unsplash

Categories: FAQs, EU Regulation on deforestation-free products, Forest risk commodities

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