The coffee you order helps support our commitment to farmers and their communities. From donating disease-resistant coffee trees to investing in sustainable agricultural practices and conserving water in coffee processing, we’re working to empower communities and improve livelihoods.

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The Starbucks approach to ethical sourcing

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A collage of three images: On the left, a closeup of a basket of red coffee cherries with people's hands picking them up. In the center, a male Starbucks barista handing a ceramic cup of coffee to a customer. On the right, a female coffee farmer in Brazil standing in a field of coffee trees wearing a hat and red plaid shirt.

From donating disease-resistant coffee trees to investing in sustainable agricultural practices, we’re working to empower communities.

Uplifting communities with every cup

Stories to inspire and nurture the human spirit

Starbucks Stories

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From donating disease-resistant coffee trees to investing in sustainable agricultural practices and conserving water in coffee processing, we’re working to empower communities and improve livelihoods.

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This page shows data from our 2019 Report. For the most up-to-date goals and progress, see our <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2022/starbucks-global-environmental-and-social-impact-report-2021/">2021 Global Environmental &amp; Social Impact Report</a>.

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Expanding on our <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-sustainability-timeline/">history in sustainability</a> and progress in building a more sustainable <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/building-a-sustainable-future-for-coffee-together/">future for coffee</a>, we announced in January of 2020 a multi-decade aspiration to be a <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-announces-multi-decade-aspiration-to-become-resource-positive/">resource-positive company</a>,&nbsp;giving more than it takes from the planet. The announcement included science-based preliminary <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/infographic-starbucks-sustainability-commitment/">target reductions</a> of carbon, water and waste&nbsp;by 2030. Informed by an <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/uploads/2020/01/Starbucks-Environmental-Baseline-Report.pdf">environmental baseline report</a> it&nbsp;outlined five strategies to move forward, such as shifting away from single-use to reusable packaging, and finding better ways to manage our waste. We’ll share new commitments in the spring of 2021 as we celebrate Starbucks 50th anniversary.

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Goal: 100% ethically sourced coffee For the fifth year in a row in FY19, more than 99% of our coffee was verified as ethically sourced under <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/cafe-practices-starbucks-approach-to-ethically-sourcing-coffee/">C.A.F.E. Practices</a>. Although we are constantly striving for 100%, the last 1% is where some of our most important work happens, bringing on new farmers and cooperatives to help ensure the long-term future of coffee. We continue to work as part of the <a href="https://www.sustaincoffee.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sustainable Coffee Challenge</a> to make coffee the world’s first sustainable agricultural product and improve the lives of at least one million people in coffee communities around the world.

Goal: Provide <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2017/starbucks-100million-coffee-trees/">100 million coffee trees</a> to farmers by 2025 Starbucks has donated coffee trees over the past four years to farmers in Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador. These climate-resilient trees replace ones that are declining in productivity due to age and disease, such as coffee leaf rust, and help improve the quality and yields of their harvests. As of June 2020, the next 10 million are being distributed, with close monitoring of potential complications related to COVID-19.

Goal: 100% ethically sourced tea We continue to work toward our goal of 100% ethically sourced tea, making significant progress from 95% in FY18 to 99% in FY19 by sourcing tea from farms that have been certified through Rainforest Alliance, UTZ, or Fair Trade. *As purchased by Starbucks global tea sourcing team.

Goal: Train 200,000 farmers by the end of 2020 Our Global Agronomy Center and Farmer Support Center at <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/this-earth-day-meet-some-of-the-people-working-to-make-coffee-sustainable/">Hacienda Alsacia</a> in Costa Rica and our eight other Farmer Support Centers around the world provide open-source training and other resources to coffee farmers. In FY19 alone, we trained nearly 88,000 farmers.

$46 million invested in farmer loans; $20 million in FY19 emergency relief funds

Goal: Invest $50 million in farmer loans by the end of 2020 As of June 2020, we have invested more than $49 million in the Starbucks <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2015/starbucks-more-than-doubles-global-farmer-loan-commitment/">Global Farmer Fund</a> to support farmers. This comes in addition to relief funds, such as the $20 million we dispersed in FY19 to many of our smallholder farmers in Central America who experienced the effects of low global coffee prices.

Goal: Empower at least 250,000 women and families in coffee, tea and cocoa growing communities globally by 2025 Through 18 grants totaling more than $5 million since 2018, The Starbucks Foundation is <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/the-starbucks-foundations-origin-grants-to-empower-women-and-girls/">supporting women and families</a> in coffee- and tea-growing communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America in many ways, including leadership skills, income-generating activities and healthier homes.

12 major cities recycling Starbucks cups; trialing of new cup technologies

Goal: Double the recyclability of our cups from 2016-2022; develop 100% compostable and recyclable hot cups by 2022 In 2016, 24% of Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada accepted our hot cups for recycling; in 2019, this number increased to 25%. Work accelerated in 2019, as the NextGen Consortium, of which Starbucks is a co-founder, identified 12 winning <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2019/closed-loop-partners-announces-12-winners-of-the-nextgen-cup-challenge/">cup technologies</a> of the NextGen Cup Challenge. In-store <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-trials-a-nextgen-cup-solution/">market testing began</a> in the spring of 2020 with a cup that is industrially compostable as well as recyclable in markets that accept hot cups. We continue to research and test cup liner solutions that will make our cup easier to recycle and compost, while also working with the Consortium to improve recycling and composting infrastructure. In Europe, Starbucks launched a £1 million <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/emea/stories/2019/uk-cup-fund-boosts-recycling-by-35-million-paper-cups-per-year/">Cup Fund</a>&nbsp;supporting ambitious recycling projects in conjunction with the environmental charity Hubbub.&nbsp;

Starbucks cups currently are accepted for recycling in Amsterdam; Boston; Chattanooga; Dallas; Denver; London; Louisville; New York; San Francisco; Seattle; Vancouver; Washington, DC; and many smaller cities.

Goal: 20% recycled content in our hot cups by 2022 Starbucks hot cups currently contain 10% post-consumer fiber (PCF), and we are working to double the recycled content to 20% as well as reduce the environmental impacts of sourcing virgin wood paper fiber we source.

2.8% reusability rate in measured markets

Goal: Double the use of reusable cups from 2016-2022 In 2019 we implemented new ways to track reusable cup usage, and we tracked a 2.8% reusability rate in company-operated stores in the U.S., Canada, Japan, and EMEA. This meant that customers received a discount for bringing their own cup or used a ceramic mug offered in store, saving more than 105 million disposable cups. China is not yet included in this metric, with a tracking program now in development there. In Europe, Starbucks conducted the first ever&nbsp;<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2019/starbucks-uk-launches-first-ever-airport-reusable-cup-trial-at-gatwick-airport-in-london/">airport reusable cup trial</a>&nbsp;at London’s Gatwick Airport.&nbsp;

We continue to conduct research and evolve our strategy to encourage customer adoption of reusables.

Continued rollout of strawless lids and sustainable material straws

Goal: Eliminate single-use plastic straws globally by the end of 2020 In 2019 Starbucks continued the expansion of <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/say-hello-to-the-lid-that-will-replace-a-billion-straws-a-year/">lightweight strawless lids</a> for cold beverages, as well as rollout of alternative material straws. By the end of calendar year 2020, we anticipate that all company-owned stores and the majority of licensees will have eliminated single-use plastic straws. However, regulatory and manufacturing challenges in light of COVID-19 threaten the ability to fully roll out a new sustainable material straw in the U.S. and Canada by the end of 2020, with a new anticipated goal date of spring 2021. Starbucks will continue to provide straws to customers who <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2018/follow-up-to-starbucks-sustainability-news/">need or request them</a> in our stores.

741 stores globally that reflect the Greener Stores framework

Goal: Build and operate 10,000 greener stores globally by 2025 Starbucks has built more than 1,600 LEED®-certified stores around the world, and in early FY20, the <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/asia/stories/2019/starbucks-reserve-roastery-shanghai-celebrates-leed-platinum-achievement/">Shanghai Roastery</a>&nbsp;set a new benchmark in green retail as the first in mainland China’s food retail industry to be certified LEED Platinum. Now in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund and in collaboration with other nongovernmental organizations, we’re going beyond LEED, expanding the scope and breadth of our greener stores commitment with an open-source <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2018/starbucks-announces-global-greener-stores-commitment/">Greener Stores framework</a> for design, construction and operation.

Goal: Empower 10,000 partners to be sustainability champions by the end of 2020 In FY19, we surpassed our goal and as of April 2020 have more than 26,000 Starbucks partners enrolled in the Greener Apron sustainability training program through <a href="https://www.starbucksglobalacademy.com/greener-apron" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Starbucks Global Academy</a>.

72% of global operations powered by renewable energy

Goal: Invest in 100% renewable energy to power global operations globally by the end of 2020 Starbucks purchases enough renewable energy to power 100% of its company-operated stores in the U.S., Canada and the UK. Worldwide in FY19, 72% of Starbucks operations were powered by renewables. This is down from 77% in FY18, driven in part by&nbsp;a transition away from company-owned renewable energy-powered markets in EMEA, as well as an increase in stores in markets where Starbucks is still building a path toward renewable energy, such as China and Japan.

As we work to buy more renewable energy, we also continue to invest in solar and wind farms, with 2019 highlights being investments in a large&nbsp;<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2018/solar-and-wind-power-fuel-starbucks-store/">wind farm</a>&nbsp;in Illinois and&nbsp;<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2019/starbucks-and-cypress-creek-solar-farms-team-up-to-power-360-stores-in-texas/">solar farms</a>&nbsp;in Texas.

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2019 Report: Leading in Sustainability - Starbucks Stories

Starbucks 2019 Global Social Impact Report: Leading in Sustainability goals and progress.

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2019 Report: Leading in Sustainability

Starbucks mission to inspire and nurture the human spirit extends well beyond our customers, partners and cafes. We take pride in conducting business responsibly and supporting communities where we do business, from bean to cup. As a company that buys three percent of the world’s coffee, sourced from more than 400,000 farmers in more than 30 countries, Starbucks understands our future is inextricably tied to the future of farmers and their families. 

The cornerstone of our ethical sourcing approach to buying coffee is Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, which was one of the coffee industry’s first set of ethical sourcing standards when it launched in 2004. Developed in collaboration with Conservation International, C.A.F.E. Practices is a verification program that measures farms against economic, social and environmental criteria, all designed to promote transparent, profitable and sustainable coffee growing practices while also protecting the well-being of coffee farmers and workers their families and their communities. C.A.F.E. Practices has helped Starbucks create a long-term supply of high-quality coffee and positively impact the lives and livelihoods of coffee farmers and their communities. The open-sourced program consists of more than 200 indicators – from financial reporting to protecting workers’ rights and conserving water and biodiversity. The program includes a third-party verification process that is overseen by SCS Global Services, responsible for ensuring the quality and integrity of the audits. 

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To see the full list of evaluation criteria, <a href="https://www.scsglobalservices.com/services/starbucks-cafe-practices">download the C.A.F.E. Practices scorecard</a>.

C.A.F.E. Practices is a verification program, not a one-time certification system, because we believe there is always more work to do to ensure the long-term supply of high-quality coffee and to positively impact farming communities. We are continuously improving this program by working with groups such as Conservation International to measure the true impact our purchasing programs have on participating farmers and producers. The program allows Starbucks to gain insights into the challenges faced by farmers and supply chain operations in the more than 30 different coffee-producing countries around the world.

In addition, when Starbucks is notified of zero tolerance violations, we take immediate action, conducting an investigation which could lead to suspending the commercial relationship with a farm until the case has been clarified. Based on our investigation we may ask our supplier to work with a farm to address any issue including the development of a work plan describing how the issue will be corrected. The implementation of a corrective action plan and the actual correction of any zero tolerance criteria is then re-evaluated by an approved third-party verification organization. This process ensures that any infractions are addressed effectively. We believe that our continuous improvement approach is the right approach to promote positive change amongst these suppliers and farms to ensure a positive future for everyone involved in coffee. 

Additional Farmer Support Programs:

C.A.F.E. Practices is just one of the ways in which we support our supply chains and farming communities. We have invested more than $150 million to date to increase the prosperity and resilience of the farmers and workers who grow coffee around the world by investing in coffee communities, sharing technical coffee knowledge, and innovating with new agricultural approaches. <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/building-a-sustainable-future-for-coffee-together/">Click here</a> to read more about our programs including farmer loans, our open-source agronomy work, farmer support centers and tree donations.

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C.A.F.E. Practices: Starbucks Approach to Ethically Sourcing Coffee - Starbucks Stories

C.A.F.E. Practices: Starbucks Approach to Ethically Sourcing Coffee

Learn more about Starbucks C.A.F.E. Practices, the cornerstone of our ethical sourcing approach to buying coffee.

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Cafe Practices

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