Starbucks Offers Incentives for Sustainability Practices

SEATTLE—With the help of Conservation International (CI), a division of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Environmental Leadership in Business, Starbucks Coffee Company (SBUX) implemented a new set of guidelines for purchasing its coffee and created a point system to reward growers for adhering to sustainability practices.

The guidelines are based on those stated in the recently published Conservation Principles for Coffee Production, a document devised collaboratively by Consumers Choice Council, CI, the Rainforest Alliance and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. The guidelines now set forth the four criteria by which Starbucks will offer grower incentives: quality standards, social conditions, environmental concerns and economic issues.

Suppliers wishing to participate in this new program will be required to obtain third-party verification of their performance in relation to Starbucks’ criteria. In exchange for compliance with the criteria, Starbucks will offer a premium of up to $.10/lb. to vendors who meet its standards. This policy will be introduced in the 2002 and 2003 crop years.

For more information, visit www.starbucks.com or www.celb.org.