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
Freiburg, Germany
Marysville, CA, USA
Villeurbanne, France
Americus, GA, USA
Munich, Germany
Haigerseelbach, Germany
Stuttgart, Germany
Stockholm, Sweden
Hamburg, Germany
Bern, Switzerland
Copenhagen, Denmark
Carlsbad, CA, USA
Hamburg, Germany
Hannover, Germany
Montreal, Québec, Canada
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Portland, OR, USA
Weissach, Germany
Howick, South Africa
Au, Germany
St. Georgen am Walde, Austria
Vancouver, Canada
Barcelona, Spain
Berlin, Germany
Portland, OR, USA
Gateshead, United Kingdom
Berlin, Germany
San Francisco, CA, USA
Leysin, Switzerland
Cape Town, South Africa
Gainesville, FL, USA
Melbourne, Australia
Delgany, Irleand
Emmerich am Rhein, Germany
Hildesheim, Germany
Strasbourg, France
Utrecht, Netherlands
Portland, OR, USA
Arona, Teneriffa, Spain
Bielefeld, Germany
Kaarst, Germany
New York, NY, USA
La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, Guatemala
Hückeswagen, Germany
Manchester, UK
Upper Cloosh, Ireland
Rogers, OK, USA
Odder, Denmark
Melbourne, Australia
Montreal, Canada
Szczurowa, Poland
Edmonton, Canada
Antwerp, Belgium
Dresden, Germany
Seattle, USA
Berlin, Germany
Munich, Germany
Frechen, Germany
Berlin, Germany
Cologne, Germany
Burgebrach, Germany
Bremen, Germany
Wallisellen, Switzerland
Frederiksberg, Denmark
Münchenstein, Switzerland
Americus, GA, USA
Olympia, WA, USA

Jonquière, Quebec, Canada
Durham, NC, USA
Cornwall, England United Kingdom
Highland Park, NJ, USA
Berlin, Germany
Oakland, CA, USA
Saint-Denis, France
Kiel, Germany
Saarbrücken, Germany

Victoria, BC, Canada
Sussex, UK
Vienna, Austria
Langnau, Switzerland
Chico, CA, USA
Dresden, Germany
Oslo, Norway
Penticton, BC, Canada
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