Carbon Sequestering: How Our Farmers Combat Climate Change

In 2007, Cooperative Coffees launched the Carbon, Climate, and Coffee initiative, which focused on calculating, tracking, and eventually finding ways to financially offset our collective carbon footprint.

As Cooperative Coffees puts it, the goal is to: “directly investing in carbon-sequestering, agricultural practices and other innovative, environmental-service projects contributes to the health and sustainable development in producer communities, while strengthening our connections across the supply chain.” In other words, Cooperative Coffees directly incentivizes our farmer-partners to capture atmospheric carbon through carbon sequestering practices.

With the help of our Impact Fund, our farmer communities have made real changes in their carbon sequestration practices.

What is the Impact Fund?

The Impact Fund is an environmental service fund that invests directly in our coffee producing partners. The money is collected through a 3 cent per pound voluntary fee paid by all roaster-members (like Desert Sun) on coffee beans imported through Cooperative Coffees.

What is Carbon Sequestering?

The US Geological Survey defines carbon sequestration as, “Carbon dioxide is the most commonly produced greenhouse gas. Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. It is one method of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with the goal of reducing global climate change.”

How Do Our Farmer-Partners Practice Carbon Sequestration?

There are many ways our farmer-partners are fighting climate change through carbon sequestration. For starters, they practice regenerative organic agriculture by cutting out harmful pesticides, fertilizers, and GMOs. This leads to healthier soil, which is crucial in capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Another way our partners are practicing carbon sequestration is through reforestation projects. Just like healing the soil, healing deforested land brings the opportunity for healthy trees to capture carbon dioxide–and breathe out clean oxygen. Just this year, Cooperative Coffees helped fund a successful reforestation project in Honduras.