At Cafe Imports, we strongly believe in social, economic, and environmental responsibility. With that responsibility comes the realization that we cannot save the world, but we can make every attempt to improve it through our global business actions.  For us, this means promoting social programs at origin; paying premiums and providing financing to our producer partners; and minimizing the environmental impact of our daily operations.

We use the word “Progress” because it implies an evolution and movement forward. In terms of our environmental progress, our goal each year is to examine what we have accomplished and look for new ways we can minimize our global impact. As a specialty-coffee importer, we realize that the foundation of our business relies heavily on travel and coffee transport. We know that the transportation industry accounts for nearly 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. We know that the production of electricity to power our four offices on four continents has a significant environmental impact. We know that 43 people driving to work, 20 miles per day puts carbon monoxide in the atmosphere. So we have large polluters like extensive global travel, ocean cargo, and trucks and trains to bring our coffee from one end of the earth to the other. We also have less-substantial polluters like utilities, employee commutes, and garbage services.

Once we begin to examine these footprints individually, we are able to assign value to them in terms of their carbon output.  Only then can we begin to calculate the costs and effort necessary to offset them completely.

Click below to view our 2017 Environment report. In this report, we have outlined the impact our business and behavior has on the environment, and how we are making progress to minimize our global impact

Click to read our 2017 Environment Report

A significant portion of our report highlights the analysis of our carbon footprint and what we are doing to offset that. In 2005, we worked with Trees for the Future, purchasing 80,000 trees to be planted in Central America. This project offset our carbon footprint through 2016. As the calendar turned over to 2017, we found ourselves “on the market” for another project to offset our carbon footprint moving forward.

After careful consideration, we are extremely excited about our partnership with Trees, Water & People to fulfill our goal of remaining carbon neutral.  TWP has been planting trees, building cook stoves, and greatly increasing the quality of life for people in Central America since 1998. Their mission of improving lives while helping manage natural resources is something we feel aligns with our core values and business practices, and we are greatly looking forward to the experience of working with them. More information can be found about the Trees, Water & People in the aforementioned environmental progress report.

 

It is important to note that we refer to this TWP project and all of our carbon offset projects as a necessary cost of doing ethical business: They are base-line investments from Cafe Imports and are not connected to or reflected in the premiums of our coffee offerings.

The environmental commitments we have integrated into our business practices are here to stay. We don’t consider ourselves a “green” business, but we are committed to make environmentally conscious decisions at every step of the coffee chain, wherever possible. We know there is plenty of room for improvement, but we take pride knowing there are efforts in place. If you have any suggestions, please e-mail progress@cafeimports.com and we will happily consider your input.