Coffee Sustainability Program
Sustainability must be embraced by all actors in the value chain if the specialty coffee industry is to survive and thrive. The Coffee Sustainability Program is designed to explore what sustainability means and the challenges of acting sustainably across the coffee value chain.
Foundation Course
The Coffee Sustainability Foundation course covers the major sustainability issues facing the coffee industry today and offers baseline knowledge of what the term ‘sustainability’ means, how it is connected to power dynamics, current and historical events and practices, as well as a variety of coffee projects. Learners can expect to take away the skills and knowledge they need to begin to make meaningful changes within their own company or prepare to participate in the intermediate or professional courses.
The course is designed to have broad applications and appeal for people new to coffee, and coffee professionals from all backgrounds who are interested in growing their knowledge of sustainability to become better stewards of sustainability within their current role or company or develop new skills to help support existing initiatives or goals. Anyone working in coffee would benefit from this course.
Intermediate Course
The Intermediate Course builds on concepts introduced in Foundation to develop each learner’s ability to analyze and interpret a variety of sustainability projects at various parts of the value chain. At the Intermediate level, students will enlarge their exposure to different sustainability approaches in the value chain, leading to a deep understanding of the defining issues in at least two parts of the chain; obtain an enriched understanding of collective action and the platforms that exist to collaborate, leverage resources, and share; assess case studies and sustainability research, projects, plans and/or business decisions; and develop a preliminary plan to move forward on a sustainability initiative within their own context.
This course is ideal for coffee professionals from all backgrounds looking to advance their coffee sustainability studies, develop their critical thinking skills, and begin to develop their personal sustainability projects.
Professional Course
The Professional level course offers an intensive, practical experience in which learners design, carry out, and assess their own sustainability project in accordance with their individual, organizational, or business goals and capabilities. During the course, learners will identify measures of accountability, success, and progress on a sustainability issue of the learners’ choice; engage extensively with debates, policies, and practices of sustainability across multiple points of the value chain; lead others in discussion and practice of these issues; serve as an advocate for intelligent sustainability programming across the coffee industry by making educated choices about trade-offs, sustainability costs, and concepts; and finally develop, carry out, and assess a sustainability effort that (a) fits within the student’s individual, business, or organization capabilities, (b) can be measured and traceable, (c) and contains structures of accountability.
This course is ideal for coffee professionals looking to work through the process of designing, developing, and implementing sustainability projects. The Professional Course is designed to be taught over a period of several months, with in-class sessions (online or in-person) to support learners as they design and carry out their projects.
Distance Learning Courses available for select courses
Learn more about distance learning experiences across the globe.
Pricing
Authorized SCA Trainers (ASTs) set their own schedules and tuition fees. When a learner passes a course, there is a SCA administrative fee collected from the AST. As you identify the right AST for you, please consult with them regarding the pricing of their courses.
Course Catalog
The SCA Coffee Sustainability Program Course Catalog consists of information on the SCA Certificate Programs and key information about each module and course of the Coffee Sustainability Program.
Click the button below to download the SCA Coffee Sustainability Program Course Catalog.
Find a Course
Our courses are taught by Authorized SCA Trainers (ASTs) all around the globe, with some courses including distance learning. View the course calendar to find course details and contact information for ASTs near you.