Yesterday the Max Havelaar Foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary. That was celebrated with something special:the launch of climate-neutral Fairtrade coffee.
Climate problem
Action must be taken to ensure that global warming does not continue. Greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced. Furthermore, it is anything but fair:people in the poorest countries have the smallest CO2 footprint, but they suffer from it the most.
Small farmers in trouble
Small farmers are particularly hard hit. They depend for their existence on the yield of their land. Their crops are affected by drought, frost or extreme rainfall, but also by subtle shifts between seasons.
Max Havelaar Fairtrade
The small farmers are financially unable to defend themselves against these changes. Fairtrade supports them in this, among other things by paying a guaranteed minimum price, paying close attention to the environment and giving farmers training.
About climate neutral coffee
Yesterday, on the anniversary day, Max Havelaar, together with development organization ICCO, released climate-neutral Fairtrade climate-neutral coffee. But what exactly is that and how can it help to reduce CO2 emissions? Growing, processing, transporting and roasting coffee requires energy, which releases CO2. Reducing measures can limit emissions. Compensation means that one buys the right to CO2 reductions that have been achieved elsewhere.
Reduction
The coffee roasters that are partners in this program have calculated the CO2 emissions for their Fairtrade coffee in the entire chain up to and including their distribution. They then reduced their own emissions as far as was feasible. They compensated the remaining chain emissions with emission rights from Ethiopian coffee farmers. This gives the coffee farmers extra income that they can use to arm themselves against the consequences of climate change.
Do you also want climate neutral coffee?
At the moment, the climate-neutral coffee is only available to large consumers, but it is expected that the coffee will also be available in supermarkets from next year.
More information about climate neutral coffee>>
Image:Tineke D'Haese
