GCP Reports Drop in Sustainable Purchasing Among Large Green Coffee Buyers

Approximately 69% of green coffee purchased by 14 major coffee roasters and retailers in 2025 met a recognized baseline sustainability standard, down from 75% the previous year, according to the latest annual sustainable purchasing report from the nonprofit Global Coffee Platform (GCP).

The organization’s Sustainable Coffee Purchases Report 2025 marks the first decline in the overall share of sustainable coffee purchases after several years of reported gains, despite an increase in the number of participating companies.

In an announcement of the report, GCP said that the decline was “largely influenced by a shift in sourcing practices by one major company.” 

The last two annual reports show that JDE Peet’s, one of the industry’s largest buyers, recorded a particularly sharp decline in purchases meeting GCP-recognized standards, from 72.94% in 2024 to 47.04% in 2025. In the new 2025 report, JDE Peet’s noted that as part of its “journey,” the company has “further evolved its responsible sourcing approach from a focus on certification- and verification-based sourcing” towards a human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) risk-based approach. Under that separate approach, the company reported that 88.8% of its 2025 green coffee was responsibly sourced.

GCP, a Europe-based membership organization supporting non-competitive sustainability efforts across the coffee industry, has published versions of the report on a nearly annual basis since 2018. 

The 2024 report showed a record 75.36% of purchases meeting the GCP baseline, following 73% in 2023 and 70% in 2022. This year’s figure dropped to 69.3%. GCP did say that year-to-year comparisons are complicated by changes in participating companies and eligible sustainability programs.

Three additional companies — Lidl, NewCoffee and Ringtons — joined the reporting initiative in 2025, bringing participation to 14 roasters and retailers. The number of sustainability programs eligible for reporting also increased from 26 to 30.

2025 Major Changes

Total Volumes

The 2025 report identified approximately 1.58 million metric tons of coffee purchased through GCP-recognized sustainability programs, down 8.9% from 1.74 million metric tons in 2024. Total reported coffee purchases, including conventional coffee, declined less than 1% to approximately 2.29 million metric tons.

Verification vs. Certification

Much of the decline was in the category described as “2nd Party Assurance Systems,” which in practice are either the in-house verification programs of roasters and traders or tailored schemes from groups such as Enveritas. Volumes purchased through these types of programs decreased 26% in 2025. Meanwhile, volumes purchased through third-party certification schemes — such as 4C, Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance — held relatively steady. 

“These findings underline both the value and the limits of current collective reporting,” GCP said in the report announcement. “Sustainable coffee purchases remain the sector’s most widely aligned indicator, providing a common reference point for tracking sourcing commitments. At the same time, purchase volumes alone cannot show whether sustainability efforts are improving outcomes for farmers, strengthening supply chain resilience, or supporting the transition to more sustainable and regenerative coffee production.”

Narrowing Geographic Diversity

Despite broader participation, the geographic diversity of reported coffee purchases narrowed. Coffee classified as sustainable came from 30 producing origins, down from 34 in 2024. Brazil and Vietnam accounted for approximately 61% of the reported sustainable coffee volume.

Procurement Remains an Industry-Wide Challenge

The findings arrive as GCP and other sustainability organizations increasingly focus on the role of commercial purchasing practices in addressing widespread poverty among coffee farmers.

Despite two decades of corporate sustainability commitments and initiatives, poverty and economic insecurity remain widespread among coffee farmers and farmworkers. Analysis in the 2026 Coffee Barometer showed that the average coffee-farming household in eight of the world’s 10 largest producing countries falls short of living-income benchmarks. 

In March, GCP joined IDH and Solidaridad in publishing “shared procurement principles” developed with 14 major coffee traders and roasters. The principles emphasize longer-term relationships, consideration of coffee production costs and greater consideration of shared risk. 

That effort expanded in September through a collaboration with German development agency GIZ to work towards specific guidance.

In the new report, GCP Executive Director Annette Pensel stressed the need for collective action within the industry. 

“I believe it’s time to collaborate on new ways of measurement to better understand what our collective efforts change for farmers,” Pensel said. 

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