Coffee Watch

05/17/2026

Coffee should never come at the cost of forests, human rights, or exploitation. ☕🌱

We are demanding a future where every cup of coffee is:

➡️Deforestation-free
➡️Land dispossession-free
➡️Child labour-free
➡️Exploitation-free
➡️Built on living wages and living incomes
➡️Truly sustainable from farm to cup

Behind every bag of coffee are farmers, communities, forests, and ecosystems that deserve protection, dignity, and justice. Ethical coffee cannot just be a trend. It must become the standard.

Hallelujah for coffee that protects both people and planet. ✊🏽🌍

05/12/2026

Coffee powers our mornings, livelihoods, and global economies, but after two decades of sustainability promises, you have questions: where does the coffee sector really stand? What’s worked? What hasn’t? Where are things really at? Well...the Coffee Barometer has answers!

Join us for the launch of the 2026 Coffee Barometer and discover what it reveals about transparency, accountability, farmer resilience, and who truly holds power in coffee. ☕🌍

Hosted by several groups who authored the Barometer alongside VOCAL (which we are a proud member of), this webinar will unpack:
• the real impact of sustainability efforts across coffee supply chains
• why it is becoming harder to assess company commitments
• what current sustainability trends mean for coffee farmers and producing communities

📅 June 11
🕒 14:00 CEST | 12:00 GMT | 8:00 EST

🔗 https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qP3XjF-VR6O_rjNAEyNrhw #/registration

Whether you work in coffee, climate, sustainability, or simply care about ethical supply chains, this is a conversation you will not want to miss.

05/11/2026

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, grandmothers, caregivers, and women who hold up the world — including the millions of women who hold up the global coffee industry.

As we celebrate today with lattes, brunches, and time with our mums, it’s worth remembering a truth the coffee sector rarely acknowledges: coffee is built on women’s labor, but too often at the cost of their rights, safety, and dignity.

Women provide up to 70% of the labor on coffee farms worldwide. Yet they own far less land than men, earn less income, have less access to training and credit, and are routinely excluded from decision‑making roles. Many work without contracts, without protections, and without a living wage.

And behind the economic inequality lies an even darker reality: sexual and gender‑based violence (SGBV) is widespread in global agriculture — including coffee.

The International Labour Organization has found that SGBV is “widespread, perhaps even pervasive” among agricultural workers. Studies show that 90% of women farmworkers in some sectors identify sexual harassment and violence as their biggest challenge. Coffee is no exception. Women in coffee often work in isolated fields, processing stations, and packing houses — places where abuse can occur without witnesses, without reporting mechanisms, and without consequences for perpetrators. Many women fear retaliation if they speak up. Many have nowhere to turn.

This Mother’s Day, we can honor mothers everywhere by demanding better for the women who grow the coffee we drink.

Every coffee company that sees this should check out a pathway towards gender equality stat, right here: https://equalorigins.org/the-gender-equity-index/ Courtesy of Equal Origins, which does incredible work on women in coffee.

And if you’re not in a company but you just care about women in coffee, please either (1) post on the social media of your favorite coffee company to demand gender equality in all their coffee stat, supply chain, or (2) donate to Coffee Watch to help us pay for our current effort to document these abuses, support survivors, and push companies, policymakers, and consumers to confront the truth: there is no sustainable coffee without women’s safety, equality, and rights.

Today, as we celebrate the mothers in our lives, let’s also stand with the women in coffee who deserve safety, dignity, and justice — not just on Mother’s Day, but every day.

05/09/2026

Instant coffee has quietly been one of the biggest loopholes in anti-deforestation coffee policy.

Now, the EU plans to bring soluble coffee under the EUDR — and honestly? This is a pretty huge step.

Considering instant coffee makes up:
☕ 25–30% of global brewed coffee consumption
☕ More than 75% of UK retail coffee sales

…this could have real impacts across coffee supply chains.

But while adding instant coffee is a win, weakening due diligence rules is not.

Forests, farmers, and the climate deserve more than box-ticking compliance. Accountability matters. Real verification matters. Support for smallholder farmers matters.

Coffee cannot keep coming at the expense of forests and people.

Learn more here: EXCLUSIVE: https://www.euractiv.com/news/exclusive-eu-to-tweak-product-list-under-deforestation-rules-without-reopening-text/

05/08/2026

Let’s be honest: We love coffee and look forward to our first cup of freshly brewed coffee every morning!

Unfortunately, since we have been working on Coffee Watch, drinking coffee makes us feel a little guilty because we know that the coffee industry is rife with so many abuses.

Choosing ethical and sustainable coffee is so difficult! There are few available options for truly ethical coffee, especially in normal supermarkets.

This is why Coffee Watch targets coffee corporations: to demand more options for consumers that are good for both people and the planet.

While we push corporations for greater supply chain transparency, accountability, and due diligence, consumers can show corporations they want ethical coffee by making better choices. Check out our ethical buying guide to learn more: https://coffeewatch.org/ethical-coffee/

05/04/2026

In a galaxy not so far away… ☕🌌✨

Imagine a future where every cup of coffee supports thriving forests, clean waterways, and resilient farming communities.

That future is already beginning to take shape. Across the globe, farmers, innovators, and communities are working toward more sustainable, deforestation-free coffee—using practices like shade-grown farming, regenerative agriculture, and turning their backs on harmful agrochemicals. 🌱

The best part? This isn’t science fiction. It’s a future we can build together.

Coffee is not just a delicious daily ritual, it’s a chance to support a better planet. And ethical, sustainable coffee is closer than we think.

May the Force be with every cup. ☕💫

05/01/2026

Glad to finally see U.S. policymakers speak out in support of the EUDR!

Trump and others like him are pushing hard to weaken the EU Deforestation Regulation, like it's their job to torch the world's forests (hello, do you not like breathing clean air?). But others are stepping up courageously to try to protect forests in spite of this pernicious pressure: 32 members of the U.S. Congress just sent a letter urging the European Commission not to cave to pressure and not to gut the EUDR. Thank goodness!

These lawmakers understand something essential: strong deforestation rules don’t just protect forest — they protect communities, climate stability, and hence entire industries that will otherwise go up in flames if the ecosystems they depend on, collapse. Carving out exemptions or weakening the EUDR law would reward the worst actors in global supply chains and undermine the companies and farmers who have already invested in doing things right.

The US Congresspeople's message is simple: hold the line.

Like we proved in our recent report with the German NGO DUH about German coffee titans' gearing up to comply with the EUDR, with some companies making herculuean efforts on compliance to eradicate deforestation and rights abuses in their supply chains, the EUDR is already proving that safer, more sustainable supply chains are possible. Huge thanks to Rep. Doggett and his colleagues for standing up for forests, Indigenous rights, sustainable business, and a livable future.

Read our report with Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Drinking Deforestation: https://coffeewatch.org/drinking-deforestation-in-german-coffee/

04/23/2026

Dear Earth, we owe you better. 🌍☕

Every cup of coffee carries a hidden cost—deforestation, water loss, and disappearing ecosystems. But it does not have to be this way. Regenerative agroforestry offers a path forward, protecting biodiversity, storing carbon, and supporting farmers.

This Earth Day, choose coffee that gives back to the planet. Our choices matter.

Learn more about agroforestry by exploring our e-library: https://coffeewatch.org/new-coffee-agroforestry-e-library/

04/16/2026

Turns out… regulation works. ☕🌳

New data from the Forest 500 report by Global Canopy shows that coffee companies are already changing their behavior because the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is on the horizon.

📊 14% are now referencing the EUDR in public reporting
📊 Traceability efforts are increasing
📊 Dozens of companies say the EUDR is directly driving their actions

Funny how that happens when rules are involved.

But before anyone gets too comfortable—here’s the reality:

❌ Less than half of coffee companies have committed to deforestation-free supply chains
❌ Only 18% have traceability systems in place
❌ Just 5% can actually show that most of their coffee is deforestation- and conversion-free

So no, voluntary action wasn’t cutting it.

This lines up exactly with what we’ve seen in our own research: without strong regulation, progress is slow, inconsistent, and easy to walk back.

The takeaway is simple:
the EUDR is already pushing companies to act—and delaying it would only slow that momentum down.

We need strong rules. And we need them now.

🔗 Forest 500 report by Global Canopy: https://forest500.org/publications/forest-500-data-shows-regulation-is-driving-corporate-action-on-deforestation/

04/08/2026

☕️ Coffee is facing a supply problem.

Up to 20% of arabica-growing land could become unsuitable by 2050 — with 8% already lost.

For consumers, that likely means:
📉 tighter supply
💸 rising prices
🔄 changing origins & taste

Climate change is already reshaping coffee.

Here is the media report from Daily Coffee News:
https://dailycoffeenews.com/2026/04/02/major-ag-lender-warns-of-arabica-land-losses-from-climate-change/

Read the full Rabobank report:
https://www.rabobank.com/knowledge/q011519061-climate-change-redefines-suitability-and-resilience-in-global-arabica-coffee-production

A Rabobank report warns that climate change could sharply reduce arabica suitability in major coffee-producing countries by 2050.