Coffee Certification and Evidence Guide
A Guide to Coffee Certification and Evidence
Please watch this video for a guide to the coffee certification standards and evidence requested for this years reporting. Included in the video are examples of evidence claims and common issues seen with evidence claims.
Background
- Over the past two decades, approximately 130,000 hectares of forested land has been lost each year to coffee cultivation, resulting in an estimated annual emission of around 45 million tCO2e (Pendrill et al., 2019)
- Certification has been used a method to address the social and environmental issues prevalent in the coffee industry.
What is Certification?
Chain of Custody Models
- Chain of custody refers to the process by which materials, in this case coffee, and associated information are transferred, monitored, and controlled as they move through each step in a supply chain. There are three commonly recognised types of chain of custody models:
- Identity preserved (3rd Party Verified Supply Chain) - ensures the identity of the coffee is maintained throughout its supply chain.
- Segregated (3rd Party Verified Supply Chain) - certified coffee is kept physically separate from uncertified coffee.
- Mass balance - certified and uncertified coffee are mixed at any stage of the supply chain
Certification Schemes for Coffee
Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance
- These are similar in that they are ambitious, achieve good coverage and have millions of certified members worldwide.
- The schemes have a common strength in their coverage of Soil health, Pollution, Health & Safety, Traceability and Management.
The 4C Code (Common Code for the Coffee Community)
- A certification scheme solely for coffee, which is a part of the Global Coffee Platform (GCP).
- This aims to improve the social, economic, and environmental conditions of coffee production by promoting 27 ‘good practice’ principles and banning 10 unacceptable practices.
- Includes third-party verification
- The countries with the largest areas of 4C certification are Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Vietnam.
- 4C certification has grown at the fastest rate of all compliance schemes, with the total amount of 4C coffee area tripling between 2011 and 2016. Table 1 summarizes the certification schemes that were judged by the Accountability Framework Initiative to provide credible deforestation- or conversion-free assurance as well as the accepted chain of custody models. The list has been produced using desk-based research and consultation.
Table 1
Certification Evidence
When completing the declaration form, please enter the final manufacturing site name along with Rainforest Alliance and/or Fairtrade Site Certification Number where possible. The certification claims will then be verified via the appropriate bodies websites.
Once verified this information will be fed to your clients who have you reported on behalf of so they can understand the sustainability progress of their supplies and make informed decisions going forward.
Contact 3Keel
For support throughout this process please do engage with the resources on the Knowledge Base and reach out to us at support.3Keel@mondra.com. We are also available on 01993 764 710 extension 400.
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