Starbucks launches one tree for one bag initiative

Starbucks has launched the One Bag for Every Tree Commitment to coincide with National Coffee Day in the United States. Starting Tuesday for the next twelve months, for every bag of coffee sold in-store in the US and Canada, Starbucks will donate 70 cents to Conservation International (CI). CI will in turn provide grants to seedling nurseries that deliver new coffee trees to farmers in El Salvador and Guatemala. Starbucks said it is using its scale to focus its sustainability efforts on communities most affected by coffee rust. “We have heard directly from farmers that helping them get new rust resistant trees will make the most impact,” said Craig Russell, Executive Vice-President, Global Coffee for Starbucks. “We are figuring out the way to do that while offering our customers an opportunity to get involved.” Starbucks will work with Sustainable Management Services to germinate the seedlings and distribute the trees in Central America. Starbucks Mexico implemented a similar coffee tree revitalisation program last year called Todos Sembramos Café (We all Grow Coffee). The program, which has so far seen more than 180,000 rust resistant plants distributed to more than 60 coffee farms in Chiapas, will donate a further 360,000 trees in its second year.