Nespresso has announced a second wave of its Limited Edition Grand Cru SULUJA ti South Sudan coffee, representing continued progress in rebuilding South Sudan's coffee industry, and a $6 million joint investment with the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) in a landmark collaboration to support coffee farmers in East Africa.
Since 2011, Nespresso has worked with non-profit organization TechnoServe and South Sudanese coffee farmers to revive their country’s coffee industry despite the ongoing conflict. The result was a unique coffee - the first significant non-oil export out of South Sudan - sold in a limited release in France last year. Since then, more South Sudanese farmers have become involved in coffee production through Nespresso’s AAA Sustainable Quality Program, enabling them to increase production and improve their livelihoods.
“We believe in the potential for coffee to create a positive impact for farmers in South Sudan and to diversify the economic base of the country," said Nespresso CEO Jean-Marc Duvoisin. "We remain strongly committed to helping coffee farmers revive their industry. Our aim is to create a lasting legacy that will contribute to peace and prosperity.”
Meanwhile, the Nespresso-IFC investment will benefit more than 40,000 smallholder coffee farmers in several regions of Ethiopia and Kenya to provide technical and financial support to increase sustainable practices and plant trees on their land. Reforestation of this kind helps to make farms more resilient to climate change. The farmers will also receive training in agricultural best practices to help them improve their productivity and the quality of their coffee harvests – enabling them to earn more money.
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“IFC has been working with Nespresso for several years, and together we recognize the potential of the AAA program as a business-led development tool,” said IFC Director of Global Industries, Alzbeta Klein. “Projects like this are game-changers for smallholder farmers, giving them the opportunity to invest in their coffee plantations, become more productive and sustainable, and become part of a global supply chain.”
The investment is the latest made through the Nespresso Sustainability Innovation Fund, a vehicle to facilitate investment by Nespresso in innovative sustainability initiatives that go beyond its usual business operations. The investment includes a $3 million grant from the Bank’s BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes - its first ever private sector collaboration to finance an environmental initiative by a business.
“This joint initiative is a good example of how industry and the public sectors can work together to support the sustainable development of coffee farming,” said Duvoisin. “Improving productivity and the quality of coffee harvests is a triple win - benefiting our customers, the environment and paving the way to higher incomes for farmers.”
“The first-of-its-kind collaboration is based on shared goals of ensuring a ‘greener’ approach to planting and processing, higher productivity for farmers, and making the coffee industry in Ethiopia more resilient to climate change,” added John Roome, Senior Director for Climate Change at the World Bank.
TechnoServe will also support the implementation of the new projects in Ethiopia and Kenya.
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Published Oct 10, 2016 4pm EDT / 1pm PDT / 9pm BST / 10pm CEST