JDE Peet’s and Enveritas have entered an agreement to verify that the Honduras coffee industry does not export coffee grown on land deforested after the year 2020, as required by the new European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
The agreement was signed by the Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock of Honduras, Dra. Laura Elena Suazo Torres, Instituto Hondureño del Café President Pedro Mendoza Flores, JDE Peet’s Vice President of sustainability Dr. Laurent Sagarra, and Enveritas CEO David Browning.
“We are eager to adopt practical solutions that allow us to address the challenges of this regulation in a way that lets us continue supplying our international customers with the coffee they need, thereby strengthening our agricultural sector,” says Torres.
Honduras joins a growing number of coffee producing countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America that are confirming their commitment to protecting the environment.
“As the second largest producer of washed coffees globally, it is crucial that we maintain access to markets on behalf of our smallholder farmers,” says Flores. “This agreement will allow us to do just that.”
Enveritas has adopted a technological process to assess all of Honduras’ coffee growing regions through a combination of high-resolution satellite imagery, machine learning, and teams on the ground.
“This partnership demonstrates how innovation can create a win-win for both the environment and smallholder farmers,” Browning says.
JDE Peet’s will work with the farmers and local partners to assist in reforesting the land.
“As more countries see the value of this territorial approach, we’re glad to be able to do our part to support our origin partners,” says Sagarra. “To address the serious challenges facing society, especially climate change, collaborations between public, private and philanthropic sectors are vitally important.”
Nations in partnership with Enveritas and JDE Peet’s now represent more than 40 per cent of coffee farmers worldwide.
