The Pledge:
A common code for transparency reporting in green coffee buying
Our Intentions
- Give any participant in the coffee supply chain the opportunity to sign on and help create a transparency movement.
- Help signatory individuals and companies create a “community of best practice” and set an example for the entire coffee industry.
- Avoid co-optation by non-committed actors by requiring participants to state the percentage of transparent coffees in relation to the total business volume.
- Signatory individuals and companies must commit to a goal of increasing transparency reporting until all coffees bought by an individual company are reported with all information stated in this Commitment.
Our Vision
- Ensure a sustainable supply of coffee by working towards a living income for producers so they will continue to invest in the future of their businesses.
- Transparent reporting enables actors along the supply chain to make informed choices. This will help the industry to raise prices paid to farmers and provide living incomes in coffee producing countries.
- Transparency about Free On Board (FOB) Prices is a first step. We encourage all companies and actors along the supply chain to make prices transparent at every step of the supply chain.
- Transparency is a tool to ensure that marketing claims are backed by actual facts.
Our Commitment
- We will create transparency data that is publicly available and easily accessible;
- state the producer/producer organization the coffee was purchased from;
- state the Free On Board (FOB) price paid for the coffee;
- indicate the quality of the coffee, for instance by using the SCA score in order to indicate cup quality;
- state the lot size (volume) of the coffee purchased;
- state the length of the relationship between producer/producer organization and buyer;
- state the percentage of transparent coffees in relation to the total volume of coffee (in lbs/tonnes) sold in the stated year.
Companies that sign this pledge publish the required information about at least one of the coffees they are selling. If the published information is called into question, companies that signed this contract agree to share a randomly selected number of green coffee contracts with other participants in order to verify information published in the transparency reports (peer review).
Our Signatories

Copenhagen, Denmark

Marysville, CA, USA

Hamburg, Germany

Melbourne, Australia

Munich, Germany

Chico, CA, USA

Berlin, Germany

Oslo, Norway

Hildesheim, Germany

Gainesville, FL, USA

Bielefeld, Germany

La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, Guatemala

Portland, OR, USA

Saarbrücken, Germany

Szczurowa, Poland

Langnau, Switzerland

Leysin, Switzerland

Edmonton, Canada

Hannover, Germany

Rogers, OK, USA

Cape Town, South Africa

Durham, NC, USA

San Francisco, CA, USA

Wallisellen, Switzerland

Dresden, Germany

Hückeswagen, Germany

Emmerich am Rhein, Germany

Au, Germany

Carlsbad, CA, USA

Munich, Germany

St. Georgen am Walde, Austria

Highland Park, NJ, USA

Kiel, Germany

Freiburg, Germany

Weissach, Germany

Penticton, BC, Canada

Vancouver, Canada

Dresden, Germany

Saint-Denis, France

Berlin, Germany

Berlin, Germany

Lüneburg, Germany

Manchester, UK

Antwerp, Belgium

Utrecht, Netherlands

Odder, Denmark

Americus, GA, USA

Villeurbanne, France

Kaarst, Germany

Cornwall, England United Kingdom

Singapore, Singapore

Los Angeles, CA, USA

Bern, Switzerland

Americus, GA, USA

Montreal, Québec, Canada

Melbourne, Australia

Burgebrach, Germany

Berlin, Germany

Strasbourg, France

Oakland, CA, USA

Bremen, Germany

Barcelona, Spain

Arona, Teneriffa, Spain

Vienna, Austria

Portland, OR, USA

Seattle, USA

Jonquière, Quebec, Canada

Gateshead, United Kingdom

Delgany, Irleand

Lancaster, PA, USA

Lüneburg, Germany

Portland, OR, USA

Olympia, WA, USA

Victoria, BC, Canada

Upper Cloosh, Ireland

New York, NY, USA

Frederiksberg, Denmark

Howick, South Africa

Cologne, Germany

Montreal, Canada

Münchenstein, Switzerland

Berlin, Germany

Frechen, Germany

Sussex, UK

Stuttgart, Germany

Stockholm, Sweden

Haigerseelbach, Germany

Hamburg, Germany
Our Supporters
Authors of The Pledge:
Jonas Lorenz
Andreas “Pingo” Felsen
Meredith Taylor
Peter Dupont
Geoff Watts
Nadine Heymann
Alexandra Urban
Sebastian Simsch
Individual Supporters:
Sven Ostendorf – Germany
Laura LaPlante – United States
Eleonora Ignazzi – Italy
Thomas Riethmüller – Germany
Poh&KY, Lonely Crowd – Malaysia
Sadek Ghossein – Egypt
Ole Kristian Bøen – Norway
Zekeriya Kagan KAYA – Turkey