“From 2005-2016, every bean of coffee that reached the Café Imports warehouse doors was carbon neutral/carbon offset by planting trees. This new effort (with Trees, Water & People) in 2017, a charitable effort by the ownership of Café Imports, guarantees again that all of our coffee is carbon neutral by the time it arrives at our warehouse”
–Andrew Miller, Café Imports Founder
Unfortunately, at a time where it is seemingly more topical than ever before, we find it is critical to analyze our business practices and the impact importing coffee has on the environment. Our goal each year, in accordance with our mission of Progress, is to analyze our carbon footprint and examine how we can keep our business practices carbon neutral.
By clicking on this link, or on the image below, you can view a report on our environmental progress–reflecting on 2016, and looking ahead for 2017. 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. All information in the report can also be found at cafeimports.com/environment.
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 to announce 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 Café 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 environment@cafeimports.com and we will happily consider your input.