From the morning bell to an after-hours espresso, cultures around the world have relied on coffee to get through the day.
Annually, people are drinking more coffee at approximately 2-2.5% increases per year. With a yearly revenue over nearly $200 billion, the global coffee demand is only expected to triple in the next 25 years.
While the beloved cup of brown gold is one of the most traded commodities in the world, mass production and transport also bring about major climate effects.
Firstly, leading coffee-producing countries like Vietnam, Brazil, and Colombia make major investments into coffee productions. This kind of mass production has historically led to detrimental deforestation, reduced biodiversity, water waste, and erosion. Research suggests that for every cup of coffee, a square inch of rainforest is destroyed and 140 liters of water are required to bring coffee from ground to cup.
Increased coffee production has forced farmers, often small-scale families working under larger cooperatives, to adapt their crop production. Often, farmers will support sun-tolerant varieties of coffee, which sometimes lack the necessary biodiversity to promote healthy ecosystems, allow for exposure to pesticides, and lead to soil erosion.
With such an impact, coffee drinkers can make important decisions to reduce the amount of waste and environmental damage produced from each cup of joe.
Local roasteries
When it comes to production, transportation is one of the leading causes of carbon emissions. From sourcing the coffee beans from other countries to fueling the trucks that deliver the processed material, reducing the number of miles traveled is a key tactic to sustainable consumption. Investing in coffee from local roasteries not only reduces the distance traveled to bring a bag of beans to the breakfast table, but could arguably improve the quality of the coffee.
Investing in fair trade and efficient coffee variants
Not only has mass coffee production led to unsustainable environmental practices, but also led to major labor inequities. Fair trade coffee works to ensure small-scale coffee producers are given profitability and labor protections independent of the global market. Organizations work to ensure farmers around the world have improved “wages, working hours, benefits, and the elimination of forced labor.”
Supporting efficient coffee production is another key step in sustainable consumption. Shade-grown coffee variants, as opposed to sun-grown varieties, are able to absorb existing carbon in the atmosphere, shield soil from developing into runoff, and promote ecosystem diversity.
Committing to less waste-producing methods
Single-serve coffee pods may be convenient, but the massive waste production is only harming the world. According to The Guardian, the amount of Keurig single-serve cups discarded in a single year could circle the earth 12 times and amount to nearly 600,000 metric tons of waste. Methods like French presses, Moka pots and reusable pour-overs only require water and coffee grounds, the latter of which is entirely compostable.
