Environmentally sustainable cultivation – coffee, tea, cocoa
Level: Advanced
Cultivation of coffee, tea and cocoa takes place in tropical and subtropical climates and can have great impact on the surrounding environment, climate emissions and local eco-systems. Procuring agencies can request that conventionally grown coffee, tea and cocoa-products fulfil environmental requirements, for example regarding the protection of natural and especially sensitive ecosystems.
Details
- Type:
- Technical specification
- ID:
- 11126:1
- Group:
- Coffee, tea and cocoa
Criterion text
Products of coffee, tea and cocoa must come from cultivation where at least the following measures are made to minimize the impact on the environment, climate and local ecosystems:
- Cultivation on or dureable change of natural ecosystems is not allowed. Verification must take place to ensure that cultivation on natural ecosystems have not occurred after 2014.
- Cultivation on or durable change of areas with high conservation value (HCV-areas) is not allowed. Verification must take place to ensure that cultivation on HCV-areas have not occurred after 2008
- Measures are made to preserve biodiversity.
- Measures are made to protect water resources and soil quality.
Verification
Upon request, the supplier shall be ready to present one of the following, for example:
- Labelling which meets the criteria, for example Rainforest Alliance, UTZ certified or equivalent labelling.
Proposed follow-up
- Product labelling
- Request documentation from the supplier which verifies the criteria. The contracting authority may request that the information is validated by an independent third party. The supplier bears the costs for this.
Information about the criterion
Several organizations, among others Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ certified and other actors work with increasing the environmental, social and economic sustainability in the coffee, tea and cocoa-sectors. The demand for and supply of sustainably produced coffee, tea and cocoa products is constantly increasing.
Environmental goals
Motive
Cultivation of coffee, tea and cocoa can have great impact on the ecosystem. To choose products which are cultivated with environmental awareness contributes to long term sustainable production systems which also considers the social and economic conditions of the grower. Added values can include measures for reduced climate impact and adaptation of the cultivation to a changing climate.
Several organizations, among others Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ certified and other actors work with increasing the environmental, social and economic sustainability in the coffee, tea and cocoa-sectors. The organizations have different approaches, but all encourage more sustainable production systems.
Versions history
The version date indicates when the sustainability criterion was created or last updated. Last reviewed dated tells when we last checked that the sustainability criterion still is relevant.
- Current ID
- 11126:1
- Version date
- 2019-01-28