Public-Private Initiative for Coffee&Climate Heads Into Third Phase

Now with more than a decade of experience, the Initiative for Coffee&Climate (styled as “coffee&climate” or “c&c”) is entering its third phase, designed to bring more climate resiliency strategies to more coffee farms.

The organizers are seeking to build support for the farmer-focused climate initiative through an introductory webinar taking place on Tuesday, March 16.

The pre-competitive climate change resiliency initiative is funded by a number of Europe’s largest coffee companies who united under the name International Coffee Partners, in collaboration with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The Coffee&Climate initiative is specifically focused on programming and resources designed to help participating smallholder farmers in at-risk regions to improve resiliency and production in the face of a changing climate.

After a first phase that involved six years of membership and methodology development, C&C ran its second phase along with implementing partner the Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung organization from 2016-2020. According to C&C, that phase reached some 83,500 smallholder farming families in parts of Central America, Brazil and Tanzania, promoting locally environmentally beneficial practices such as mulching, pest management, intercropping, coffee variety management and erosion control techniques.

Also during that phase, in 2018, C&C launched a free online toolbox designed to be used by coffee farmers.

The initiative’s third phase, scheduled to run through June 2024, will involve scaling existing successful pilot efforts while further “promoting climate-resilient livelihoods and minimizing carbon emissions while enhancing the carbon storage potential in coffee farms and coffee landscapes,” according to the organizers. 

Registration for the March 16 webinar, called “Being Cool Has Never Been So Hot” is available here.

Coffee companies collaborating in the initiative include Delta Cafés (Portugal), Franck (Croatia), Joh. Johannson (Norway), Lavazza (Italy), Löfbergs (Sweden), Neumann Gruppe (Germany), Paulig (Finland) and Tchibo (Germany).

[Editor’s note: This story has been updated. An original version incorrectly stated that this was the final planned phase of the initiative. Plans for the initiative following this phase have not yet been determined.]