Olam Coffee announces new sustainability targets for 2025

Olam Coffee, part of Olam Food Ingredients, has set its first formal sustainability targets for 2025 across its global, direct coffee supply chain, under its new Coffee LENS programme.

Coffee LENS – standing for Livelihoods, Education and Nature at Scale – focusses on four priority areas to improve economic opportunity, education and skills, climate action and ecosystems in the coffee sector.

As part of its new programme, Olam Coffee has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emission intensity by 15%. The company has also set the target for its coffee supply chain – which covers 18 origins and a sourcing network of an estimated 424,000 farmers – to be deforestation-free with improved soil health and biodiversity at landscape level.

Other goals include 200,000 households to benefit from improved productivity and incomes, while all children of coffee farmers in Olam’s supply chain will have access to education and young people engaged in vocational tradition.

The strategy, which aligns with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, will be achieved through collaboration with partners including customers, governments and financial institutions.

To meet these goals, the company will also leverage its sustainability insights platform, AtSource, and buying app Olam Direct. Progress on Coffee LENS will be reported annually, tracked and supported by data from the 100 economic, social and environmental metrics of AtSource.

Olam Coffee claims that it has already given sustainability support to over 60,000 coffee farmers across Africa, Asia and South America.

The news comes shortly after Olam Cocoa announced it had achieved 100% traceability of directly sourced cocoa across its global supply chain, after committing to the target five years ago.

Vivek Verma, managing director and CEO of Olam Coffee, said: “While the coffee supply chain is highly fragmented making direct access to farmers difficult, our sustainability ambitions have grown each year, promoting the importance of traceability, quality, profitable farmers and living landscapes.

“Despite our collective efforts however, many of the complex challenges in coffee remain and are now compounded by Covid-19 imposed restrictions to markets and skilled labour squeezing incomes further.

“Our Coffee LENS strategy therefore, focuses our efforts on increasing the impact of what we are already doing through a more structured approach.”