Ensuring Economic Viability and Sustainability of Coffee Production

Coffee, the world’s favorite beverage, provides livelihoods for at least 60 million people across dozens of countries. Yet this beloved drink is experiencing a sustainability crisis. A sustained decline in world coffee prices has squeezed coffee producers, and thrown a tremendous number of producers below the global extreme poverty line. This report, commissioned by the World Coffee Producers Forum and written with CCSI advisory board chair Jeffrey Sachs, presents our research into sustainability within the coffee sector, including the results of our analytical and empirical modeling, and provides several recommendations, including: developing country-specific National Coffee Sustainability Plans, establishing a Global Coffee Fund to finance sustainability investments, and exploring additional ways to increase producer profits.

Read the report in Spanish here.

Download the 2019 report (141 pages, including appendices)

Download the 2019 report in Spanish (145 pages, including appendices)

Download the 2019 report summary (7 pages)

Watch the movie briefing (~2min)

Authors

Jeffrey D. Sachs

Director, Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University

KC

Kaitlin Y. Cordes

JR

James Rising

Perrine Toledano

Director of Research and Policy

NM

Nicolas Maennling

Themes

• Food Systems