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Certified coffees are commonly defined as those that include the three pillars of sustainability. The concept of sustainability in this realm includes such aspects as ‘economic viability for farmers’, ‘environmental conservation’ and ‘social responsibility’. Certification is the procedure by which an independent third party certification body gives written assurance that the quality of the coffee and the production process has been assessed and conforms to specified requirements.
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Independent monitoring and certification are central to the four major coffee production standards: Fairtrade, Organic, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ Certified. Other coffees are sold under sustainability initiatives that are designed by private companies, with or without third-party monitoring and verification. Leading company programmes are the Starbucks' C.A.F.E. Practices and the Nespresso AAA guidelines of Nestlé.
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Coffee producers, trade and industry, trade unions and NGOs participated in the development of the Common Code for the Coffee Industry (4C). The 4C distinguishes itself from certified coffee standards by relying on “verification” rather than “certification” of standards compliance. Verification entails an internal monitoring system incorporated within the initiative’s corporate business model rather than relying on external verifiers and/or third party guarantees |
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Production standards |
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Company standards |
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Verification standard |
