Dunkin’, being one of the leading brands of coffee, shows a promise of sustainability with joining The Sustainable Coffee Challenge, a collaborative effort among companies, governments, NGOs, research institutions and others dedicated to making the coffee sector fully sustainable.
There are approximately 25 million coffee producers, 10 million hectares of coffee farms in the world so it’s important that big coffee houses take the sustainable approach towards coffee.
The Challenge is facilitated by Conservation International, with the agenda and actions led by Challenge partners. Together with the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, Dunkin’ will work to find solutions for the coffee community while stimulating the need for sustainable coffee.
Recently, the franchisee-owned supply chain management cooperative, announced a five-year agreement with World Coffee Research (WCR), a nonprofit collaborative research and development program of the global coffee industry, to boost coffee sustainability. As per agreement, a percentage of sales from every pound of Original Blend coffee beans sold to Dunkin’ franchisees for use in Dunkin’ restaurants will go to WCR in support of coffee sustainability efforts.
This financial contribution, which could amount to $2MM over the course of the agreement, will support WCR’s mission to grow, protect and enhance supplies of quality coffee, while improving the livelihoods of the families who produce it.
The commitment by the Dunkin’s system makes them one of our biggest donors and a leader in collaborative, pre-competitive agronomic research and development,” said Tim Schilling, CEO of World Coffee Research. “With rising temperatures and more frequently extreme weather, the need to make coffee plants more resilient to threats like diseases and droughts has never been more urgent. The support from Dunkin’ will be transformational in protecting the availability of quality coffee, and protecting the livelihood of coffee farmers across the globe through access to new coffee varieties and technologies.”
The key objectives towards coffee sustainability, include-
-Increase the supplies of quality coffee for the global coffee market through innovative, collaborative research on key supply constraints, including climate change, disease and insect problems, yield and quality, and the lack of genetic diversity.
-Better understand the causes and effects of genetic, agronomic, and post-harvest factors on the quality of coffees in order to increase quality and volumes of coffee.
-Improve the livelihoods of coffee growers by providing them with better, higher revenue-earning varieties and agronomic technologies.
-Increase the capacity of coffee origin countries to execute advanced coffee research that will result in increased cup quality and volumes of quality coffee.