Caravela Coffee has announced its Supplier Farms located on the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador have achieved the Carbon Neutral International Standard.
Caravela is a United Nations Climate Neutral Now Participant and Certified Carbon Neutral organisation that has been sourcing coffee from the Galapagos since 2016.
Since then, the company has been committed to the conservation of the islands as they stand as a biodiversity sanctuary and is a UNESCO-listed world Heritage Natural Site.
Caravela has been working with coffee growers in the Galapagos Islands to bring technical expertise, training and support on best coffee growing practices through its Coffee Grower Education Program.
During this time, Caravela has shared experience with partner farmers on how to improve the quality of their coffee through best harvesting and post-harvesting practices. It has also offered guidance on protecting the islands’ environment, building-up traditional coffee production methodologies on the islands.
A carbon footprint assessment and third-party verification has been carried out at farm-level for 26 farmers with coffee farms in the Santa Cruz Island of the Galapagos Archipelago.
By measuring carbon footprint, carbon sequestration and following third-party verification, One Carbon World certifies that coffee growing conditions, practices and protocols used by local farmers in the Galapagos Islands are climate positive. This means farmers are removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than is being emitted.
“Here in the Galapagos, we don’t use herbicides and we only use the amount of fertilisation that the plant needs. We protect the environment by not using chemicals for the land, planting endemic plants,” says Marina Caimiñagua, from Finca La Fortuna, one of the 26 coffee producers who are part of Caravela’s Galapagos supply chain.
“We also have timber trees, and they generate organic material that helps for the fertilisation of coffee trees and keeps them healthy. With these practices, this land has been exceptionally good to produce coffee.”
This milestone is the first step of Caravela’s goal of having a carbon-neutral supply chain with 100 per cent of the coffee it sources and exports.
Caravela will continue with its efforts to verify the carbon emissions of its entire coffee supply chain in the next four years.
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