As a company that bases its activity on agricultural products, at Starbucks they are aware that the planet is their most important business partner. Their deep commitment to reducing environmental impact is about looking at all areas of their business, seeing how they intersect and interact, and how they can be integrate new solutions to create significant and sustained change over time.
The US company’s environmental policy is made up of four sections or departments: one of them refers to its certified stores LEED; the second, its recycling and waste reduction policy; another section is related to the conservation of water and energy ; and lastly, climate change stands out.
Starbucks has been a leader for more than a decade in developing and implementing a green building program for retail businesses. They joined the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 2001 and collaborated with them in developing the LEED for said retail program, an effort that aimed to adapt LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) to new building systems. construction and internal trade strategies, in a retail framework. Soon after, Starbucks became one of the first distributors to join the USGBC’s LEED certification pilot program. They have come a long way since opening their first LEED-certified store in 2005 in Hillsboro, Oregon. They now have nearly 600 LEED-certified stores in 19 countries across their three regions (more than any other retailer in the world).
Another of the objectives of its environmental policy is to work on reducing its environmental footprint, meeting customer expectations while keeping in mind the reduction of waste associated with its activity, increasing recycling and promoting reusable cups. For example, it currently works with companies and organizations participating in the value chain as a member of the Paper Recovery Alliance and Plastics Recovery Group, belonging to the Food Packaging Institute.
In 2008, they set the goal of reducing water consumption by 25% in the company’s stores, within seven years, including 2015. Their substantial water savings have reached through various measures, including the installation of efficient lighting; consumption monitoring to identify peaks in water consumption and detect possible water leaks; and the improvement of water filtration systems. The goals proposed for energy saving are equally ambitious. In the last year they have completed the installation of Energy Management Systems in approximately 4,000 stores. These ssystems optimize heating and cooling, and help identify additional savings opportunities that may arise for the future.
Starbucks has pursued a climate change strategy since 2004, focusing on renewable energy energy savings and adaptation to climate and mitigation efforts. Regarding their stores, in addition to respecting LEED construction standards, they have become the largest purchaser of renewable energy in their sector. On the agricultural front, they work with Conservation International< /a> to include climate-smart agricultural practices as part of the Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices. They also commit to progressive climate change policy in partnership with other companies and organizations. It should be noted that they are founding members of the Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy ( BICEP).
On April 8, Starbucks Coffee Company announced important advances in of investigation and transparency, for the benefit of the entire select coffee industry, as part of the evolution of its ethical and inclusive sourcing program and support for the sustainability of the coffee-of-origin industry. The company will soon celebrate a decade of agronomic research available for commercialization in collaboration with Costa Rican Coffee Institute (ICAFE). This research, along with Starbucks’ original far-reaching project for transparent and sustainable sourcing, benefits more than one million farmers and workers around the world. By sharing this work with the industry, Starbucks will expand its impact to the 25 million people who depend on coffee for their livelihoods around the world.
As of 2015, Starbucks has declared or classified 99% of its coffee as ethically sourced or processed. For more than 15 years, Starbucks has worked with Conservation International to design a rigorous program package to ensure better environmental and social practices in coffee processing and cultivation. To date, more than one million farmers and workers on four continents have enjoyed the benefits of participating in Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) practices.
Since its founding, Starbucks has invested more than $70 million in its global approach or policy of ethical sourcing, supporting coffee farming communities, mitigating the effects of climate change, and supporting the stability of long-term crops and agricultural sustainability. This includes a network of six farmer support centers around the world (Rwanda, Tanzania, Colombia, China, Costa Rica and Ethiopia), a commitment to provide $20 million in targeted funding to farmers (in the form of short-term and long-term loans), as well as the purchase of a farm in Costa Rica, which acts as a center or headquarters for global agronomy.