Leading sustainability certification scheme 4C has released its first impact report to showcase its development since the transition from verification to certification in 2018 and the impact that has been achieved over the years.
4C intends to publish impact reports on a regular basis to test and evaluate the effectiveness of its certification system.
In order to reach 4C’s comprehensive standard, covering environmental, social and economic sustainability dimensions, key improvements in areas such as risk assessment, traceability, capacity building and regular integrity audits, have been implemented, as outlined in the report.
For the Approach & Impact Report, 4C worked on finding science-based solutions for its comprehensive impact assessment. This draws on analysed data from the 4C database, including evaluations of numerous audit reports and results of internal assessments.
The report includes results from comprehensive surveys conducted among the 4C certified producer groups and certification bodies cooperating with 4C, as well as feedback from additional stakeholder groups, including industry and trade actors, civil society and research organisations.
4C aims to create impact in various ways within the coffee sector. It fosters good agricultural practices, prevents deforestation, promotes climate friendly coffee cultivation, and improves livelihoods of stallholder farmers.
4C’s projects focus on topics such as reducing the carbon footprint of coffee value chains, empowering women, and increasing biodiversity in coffee growing regions.
4C’s main goal is to anchor sustainability in the coffee supply chain and support both parties on the producing and consuming side on their path to a more resilient and sustainable coffee world.
For more information, visit the 4C website.