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On October 28, the International Coffee Organization, or “ICO,” held its 128th council session. The council is the governing body of the ICO, and council sessions bring governments of exporting and importing countries together twice a year to discuss coffee sector issues. At this most recent session, the ICO confirmed and endorsed a ten-year road map to action the so-called “London Declaration.” Signed in September 2019, the London Declaration is an international pledge to address the growing economic unsustainability of global coffee production as outlined in the ICO’s Resolution 465 on coffee price in 2018. Signatories of the 2019 declaration included both public and private companies, including producer organizations, some of the world’s largest coffee roasters and retailers, and sector organizations. It was widely reported as the first time that major private sector actors across the value chain came together to agree to jointly implement solutions in a spirit of shared responsibility. 

A Coffee Public-Private Task Force made up of equal numbers of representatives from the private signatory companies and ICO member countries identified priority issues and suggested actions. These actions are introduced in Communiqué 2020, which was published shortly after the ICO’s council session last week. The joint commitments are built upon similar visions and actions articulated by signatories and task force members, Global Coffee Platform and the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, who engaged smaller groups of private stakeholders. Other efforts to understand and address the crisis, including the SCA’s Price Crisis Initiative, have come to similar conclusions around the role of price volatility and low producer income in perpetuating the cycle.

The actions have all been designed to facilitate a broad long-term vision, also agreed by the International Coffee Council and the Coffee Public-Private Task Force. Spread across four key areas of action, the vision is highly ambitious. It includes economic resilience and social sustainability; environmental sustainability through sustainable production; balanced demand and supply and responsible consumption; and effective enabling conditions. Although this is the broadest group of public and private organizations to address the economic unsustainability of coffee production so far, the vision will be further developed through public consultation. 

Specific actions for 2020-2021, most focused on exploring and identifying the work to come, are outlined through seven “technical workstreams.” Some of the key activities outlined for this year include establishing Living Income as a foundation to reach the vision’s “Prosperous Income” for coffee producers and the exploration of multi-stakeholder and green price stabilization funds. When successfully executed, the activities will contribute substantially to reducing uncertainty and economic hardship borne by producers. However, unlike the recommendations laid out in the Price Crisis Initiative’s Summary of Work, they do not suggest that a reassessment of value creation and reward will be required to achieve long-term sustainability.

This episode of Recap was made possible with the support of BRITA. If you want to dive deeper into anything you heard today, check out the links in the description of this episode. Recap will be back in two weeks’ time. Thanks for listening. 

Further Reading: 

• ICO’s Public and Private Task Force Shifts the Future of the Coffee Sector Towards a Prosperous Income for Coffee Farmers (International Coffee Organization Press Release) 
• Communiqué 2020: Pursuing Economic Sustainability for an Inclusive and Resilient Global Coffee Sector (International Coffee Organization) 
• ANNEX to the Communiqué: Vision, Roadmap, Technical Workstreams Planning and Proposed Commitments (International Coffee Organization) 
• Establishment of the Coffee Public-Private Task Force (International Coffee Organization) 
  • About the Task Force 
• Draft London Declaration on Price Levels, Price Volatility, and the Long-term Sustainability of the Coffee Sector (Submitted to the ICO by the CEO & Global Leaders Forum of the Coffee Sector)