Insights

Driven by the world’s largest foundation and engaging some of the best minds, we are putting together one of the most unique efforts to radically transform smallholder farming.

The COSA Measuring Sustainability Report: Coffee and Cocoa in 12 Countries surprised many in 2014 with its hard data and frank insights, the result of partnered research with leading institutions.

For intelligent rural investments with sustainable practices, it is critical to understand the influential factors as well as historic lessons from decades of development literature.

Traceability is the foundation for any sustainability program. But tracing the chain of custody back to the small producer (the first mile) rarely happens. Simple technologies now demonstrate that it can be done and we can see that it has considerable value for any sustainability-oriented approach.

Leading financial investors can see the writing on the wall, says UN chief economist, noting new directions among major investors even as 2018 has been a tough year for sustainability.

When well-executed, private sustainable sourcing programs can offer substantial value. Some approaches designed by firms can raise concerns about whether they offer much benefit to producers and the environment, or, they are little more than compliance checklists. However, they can also be effective in their design and execution so that they offer substantial value to both the suppliers and the firm. Our long history of successfully designing company programs and strategies has yielded useful lessons of what to do and what NOT to do in these eight key steps to sustainable sourcing.

Listening to its farmers: how one company’s approach to a sustainable supply chain is building long-term trust and stability to vexing development problems

In an upcoming keynote at the highly-regarded annual Sintercafe event, I’ll be shocking some folks with the unpleasant news that we are now experiencing the demise of sustainable development…and I wish I were joking.

When a severe epidemic related to climate change wiped out almost half of the income for 97% of the small farmers we surveyed in Guatemala, we found that some farmers coped better and had fewer losses than others.

As more claims are being exposed by the media, it is prudent for corporate leaders to consider the integrity of their sustainability claims.