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
Langnau, Switzerland
San Francisco, CA, USA
Durham, NC, USA
Au, Germany
Burgebrach, Germany
Portland, OR, USA
Olympia, WA, USA
Hildesheim, Germany
Penticton, BC, Canada
Gainesville, FL, USA
Highland Park, NJ, USA
Copenhagen, Denmark
Hannover, Germany
Oakland, CA, USA
Barcelona, Spain
Wallisellen, Switzerland
Kiel, Germany
Weissach, Germany
Gateshead, United Kingdom
Munich, Germany
Stockholm, Sweden
St. Georgen am Walde, Austria
Bielefeld, Germany
Freiburg, Germany
Montreal, Canada
Cologne, Germany
Jonquière, Quebec, Canada
Seattle, USA
Hamburg, Germany
New York, NY, USA
Vienna, Austria
Bremen, Germany
Marysville, CA, USA
Portland, OR, USA
Kaarst, Germany
Bern, Switzerland
Howick, South Africa
Berlin, Germany
Münchenstein, Switzerland
Villeurbanne, France
Cape Town, South Africa
Odder, Denmark
Leysin, Switzerland
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Chico, CA, USA
Saarbrücken, Germany
Melbourne, Australia
Stuttgart, Germany
Hückeswagen, Germany
Melbourne, Australia
Montreal, Québec, Canada
Rogers, OK, USA
Szczurowa, Poland
Dresden, Germany
Victoria, BC, Canada
Frederiksberg, Denmark
Oslo, Norway
Berlin, Germany
Saint-Denis, France
Sussex, UK
Americus, GA, USA
Berlin, Germany
Carlsbad, CA, USA
Hamburg, Germany
Edmonton, Canada
La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, Guatemala
Americus, GA, USA
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