Whenever I go grocery shopping, I always end up thoroughly studying food labels. Does it come from biological agriculture? Is it a fair trade product? Is the price reasonable? And, looking around, I see many other people doing the same. The fact that we stand there, in the middle of a supermarket aisle, debating with ourselves whether we should buy a product or not, is already a good thing. This behavior indicates that we're becoming more considerate and conscious of our consumption habits. Many have started following the idea that what we buy has the power to influence the world surrounding us. Buying more equally made products can actually make a difference.
The worldwide wealth gap between rich and poor is widening, as wrote, quoting a report published by the United Nations (UN). According to this, more than 70% of the global population are living in a country where disparity is growing. While the reasons for increasing inequality are multiple and complex, there's one pretty easy to identify factor: our shopping habits. When we buy, for example, fast fashion items, we are often supporting systems that live off exploitation of natural resources, cheap labor and a culture based on wasteful behaviors.
Even though building a more equal world might seem somewhat difficult, there are actually easy ways to reduce our negative impact. For example, we could buy more second hand or ethically produced clothing. The same goes for many other products like paper books (which one can easily borrow or buy used), food (we should try to avoid waste), but it also goes for some more radicate habits, like the coffee that we drink, that has incredibly underrated effects on our world.
The coffee industry is massive: it's worth 100 billion dollars and it produces 169 million coffee sacks yearly. In fact, coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world after oil barrels. However, coffee is undoubtedly more sustainable than the latter, because coffee producers have had to adapt more quickly than others to climate change issues. Rising heat levels could cause a sector crisis in the future. And that's what producers are trying to avoid.
Worldwide, World Coffee Research, another non-profit organization, coffee is the second most popular beverage after water, with 2,5 billion cups consumed on a daily basis. And, demand is growing: according to has estimated that by 2050 more than half of coffee soils could disappear due to climate change. Coffee plantations are often situated in countries where rising temperatures and, for example, droughts could have devastating effects on lands and their farmers. SAFE & Sustainable Food, a non-profit organization, by 2030, yearly production will have to grow by 40 to 50 million packs in order to meet market demand.
The lives of over 20 million small farmers worldwide, who produce 80% of coffee globally, depend therefore on these lands and on this industry. Hence, preserving these soils has become a top priority for producers. During the last decade innovation has been big in coffee production: thanks to modern technology producers have been able to save up to twenty times more water than before. This evolution, driven mainly by younger generations, has transformed the sector and its whole supply chain into one of the most eco-efficient ones. It's a virtuous cycle: saving the environment grants cultivable lands and therefore the need for workforces, which (if retribution is fair) makes quality of life for local communities rise.
So, when grocery shopping, we can support those producers that have decided to stand with small farmers and protect their lands against climate change. At the same time it's important to choose products that make us feel good about ourselves and that give us the right amount of energy. Today, october 1st, is International Coffee Day and Italian coffee producer illy wants to give a voice to the future, underlining the key role young people have in making the world a more sustainable, innovative and egalitarian place with its initiative #Stand4CoffeeFuture.
illy has always been committed to making its coffee economically, environmentally and socially sustainable during every step. By creating shared values between all stakeholders, from farmers to consumers involved in the production and supply chain, illy wants to make the world more equal. The dream is to combine economy and ethics, two apparently very distant worlds, into a balanced cooperation that has constant improvement as the ultimate goal. Being a certified B Corporation - a company that is held to the highest standards of transparency, illy publishes a yearly report on its sustainability and participates in finding solutions - illy distinguishes itself on the market. Instead of being solely profit-oriented, the company aims at innovating continuously to maximize the positive impact on employees, communities, the environment and all stakeholders. illy has always invested in young people's education through a Master's Degree in "Coffee Economics and Science". The Ernesto Illy Foundation offers financial aid to cover costs - partially or totally - to deserving young graduates from the main coffee-producing countries. For illy, doing business means building a better future by keeping a positive influence on society in order to create a sustainable, shared and long lasting added value.