Circular coffee – can we make coffee sustainable?

Coffee is close to many people’s hearts, but the coffee industry needs fixing. Deforestation, water scarcity and poverty are among the issues associated with coffee’s global supply chain. This poses the question: can we reinvent our coffee production processes to make them totally circular? To discuss the future of coffee – and positive changes already happening – Matt is joined by Kane Statton (Head of Coffee at Kiss The Hippo) and Juan Medina (CEO & Co-Founder of Kaffe Bueno).

10 Mar 2023

44:29

Synopsis

Coffee’s global supply chain contributes to sustainability issues, including water scarcity, soil degradation, and carbon emissions through production and transport.

Kiss The Hippo is a carbon-negative coffee roasting company based in London, which offsets its carbon footprint plus 50% via a reforestation partner. In theory, coffee farming could also be part of the solution to the global climate challenge, with cover crops acting as carbon sinks.

Coffee beverages are just one of multiple products to derive from coffee beans, which includes solid foods, health products, compost and fertiliser. Kaffe Bueno is a certified B-CORP in Copenhagen that is developing novel products from coffee by-products using green chemistry and biotechnology.

Larger players in the coffee industry are starting to adopt some of the practices developed by sustainability trailblazers. But scaling up the change will require regulation changes and improved systems for tracing sustainability claims.

more close