Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG), the world’s largest green coffee service group, today became a member of The Sustainable Coffee Challenge. Joined by ten other industry leaders, the Challenge now comprises 115 partners.

The Sustainable Coffee Challenge convenes, unites and urges the coffee sector and conservation partners across the industry to spur the actions and investments necessary to make coffee the first sustainable agriculture product in the world.

David M. Neumann, NKG’s managing partner: “Sustainability has been a driver for us long before it became a buzz-word amongst competitors. Our own farming activities in the early 1990ies taught us the importance of it very quickly. Ever since that we have been actively engaged in the proliferation of sustainability amongst farmers big and small. Especially the small-farmer-sector is in our focus today, we regard sustainability not as a ‘fix-it-all-miracle-cure’ but rather as a commercially viable way ahead to a bright future for everyone in the green-coffee value chain. A number of important projects and contributions over the years show our commitment”

The Sustainable Coffee Challenge, conceived by Conservation International and Starbucks and launched during the Paris climate meetings in 2015, is uniting players from across the coffee industry – growers, traders, roasters, retailers, governments and NGOs. It works to stimulate greater demand for sustainable coffee while forming partnerships to find and scale up programs promoting improved livelihoods, nature conservation and a continued supply of coffee. By encouraging demand for sustainable coffee, it leads to investments that enable the transition to a sustainable production and ensuring the coffee we drink is a sustainable product.