Coffee growing and trading have a lot of positive contributions to environmental and social issues, especially when compared to other economic activities. For example, coffee shrubs are evergreen, which means they help with carbon sequestration. They also help stabilize soils.
What is the environmental impact of coffee?
Overall, coffee farming has a negative effect on biodiversity. The main reason for this is that most coffee is produced on monoculture farms, which eliminates many different species of plants and animals. However, some coffee farms are better for wildlife than others. Those that have shade trees, for example, provide a habitat for birds and other animals.
coffee production is negatively affecting plant and animal species living within rainforest ecosystems Worldwide. The use of monocrop coffee production is leading to deforestation, soil erosion, and water pollution.
How can we make coffee sustainable?
- Use a coffee press or Moka pot
- Choose fair trade
- Get a reusable cup
- Compost your coffee grounds
- Choose your coffee pods wisely
A cup of tea every day emits 33 pounds of greenhouse gas annually, while coffee emits 10 times that amount.
Which coffee is most ethical?
- Larry’s Coffee
- Ethical Bean
- Café Mam
- Higher Ground Roasters
- Conscious Coffees
- Salt Spring Coffee
- Cafédirect
- Grumpy Mule
The study found that coffee plants will be much less suitable for cultivation in current coffee-producing regions by 2050 due to the impacts of climate change.
A recent study found that the Western coffee habit causes deforestation of four trees a year on average.
How can we reduce the impact of coffee on the environment?
- Reduce Energy Usage
- Reducing Waste
- Buy Sustainable Coffee
- Stop Adding Dairy
Why is it important to produce coffee sustainably?
Coffee is so valuable that the people who own the land where it is grown cannot afford it. Sustainable practices are important because they ensure that workers are fairly compensated for their labor. Coffee is a commodity crop and is traded by people with power.
Some of the environmental problems associated with coffee production include clearing of land, use of pesticides, pollution, deforestation, and extinction of animals due to habitat destruction. Some of the societal problems associated with coffee production include unfavorable labor practices with low wages, long hours, no benefits, and child labor.
The study estimated that one cup of coffee brewed with an automatic coffee maker has a carbon footprint of 0.209kg of CO2e. This includes all the energy and material required for growing, harvesting, and processing the coffee from the seedling stage.
Coffee beans must go through a lot of steps before becoming the delicious drink we know and love. They must be grown, harvested, processed, transported, roasted, and ground, which all release CO2 into the atmosphere. If you take milk, sugar, and cream into account, the carbon footprint is even higher.
What are the benefits of tea over coffee in terms of environmental friendliness?
Processing times for different types of tea are shorter than those for coffee. Coffee is only harvested once a year, so more land is needed to produce the same amount of coffee as tea.
A tea plant that produces matcha can live for up to 50 years, making it a very sustainable and environmentally friendly food crop. By using the whole leaf, matcha requires less waste than other types of tea (which only use part of the leaf).
Ethical Consumer did some research and found that 90% of all tea brands and 70% of coffee bean brands have some kind of ethical accreditation. This is good news, but we need to make sure that these products are actually living up to their standards. We need to do our part in making sure that the companies that we buy from are being ethical.
We’re always looking for ways to improve our coffee and serving 100% ethically-sourced beans is our latest step forward. Getting certified by the Rainforest Alliance lets our guests know that their choice to drink McCafé coffee helps make a positive difference in the environment.
Is the coffee from Starbucks ethically sourced?
If customers ask about the glasses, baristas will say that almost all of Starbucks coffee is from farms that treat workers fairly and use sustainable methods.
The coffee crop will be the most affected by climate change in the future. By 2050, the number of regions suitable for growing coffee will have declined by 50 percent in all three climate scenarios.
The increase in temperatures will make it difficult to grow coffee in some areas. The map below shows the projected changes in the viability of the Coffea arabica crop due to climate change.
References
https://perfectdailygrind.com/2018/11/sustainability-in-coffee-what-are-the-main-issues/
https://www.livekindly.co/everything-about-sustainable-coffee/