Meet the Jimma Agro-Biodiversity Project, 2022 Sustainability Award Winner, Best Project Category
Coffee Circle has been setting new standards for fair consumption over the last 10 years. Driven by the vision of rethinking the value chain of coffee - from the origin to the freshly brewed cup of coffee, Coffee Circle is a platform providing everything from sustainable and unusual beans to suitable machines and grinders to tips for preparation.
Since 2010 Coffee Circle has been working closely with independent farmers and cooperatives in the Jimma zone in Western Ethiopia to help preserve the local agro biodiversity and improve living conditions by, among other things, providing access to clean drinking water. These are essential to the local livelihood and to secure the future of specialty coffee.
Since 2004, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has been proud to recognize outstanding work in the field of sustainability with its annual Sustainability Awards. The awards acknowledge the efforts of extraordinary individuals, businesses and organizations that have created projects or business models that expand and promote sustainability within the coffee world. The Project category award celebrates innovative projects that advance the coffee sector’s pursuit of sustainability.
The 2022 winner of the Sustainability Award in the Project Category is the Jimma Agro-Biodiversity Project by Coffee Circle.
SCA Knowledge Development Manager, Julie Housh, asked the Coffee Circle team a series of questions about their achievement, and the future of Sustainability in coffee.
Here is what they said:
What does it mean to you to win this award?
It means a lot to us and we are enormously proud that SCA has picked our project. For Coffee Circle and our partners, it is more than the 2022 Sustainability Award. It is an award for more than 10 years of work we have invested in coffee origins with Coffee Circle.
How is sustainability different in 2022 than it was when Coffee Circle was established?
When we started around 12 years ago, the term sustainability was a rather marketing driven buzz word. We started Coffee Circle with the idea to have a positive impact on farmer communities in Ethiopia. It took us a long time to truly figure out what sustainability means for us. Is it environmental sustainability? Is it the social impact at origin? What role plays economic sustainability for us as a for profit company? We feel that the discussion we have in the industry today is much more elaborate and diverse than when we started. Somehow the time for easy answers is over, it's no longer a marketing phrase for most. We think that is a very good development. Awards like the Sustainability Award keep pushing that development which is very important.
How do you hope to see the coffee industry continue to evolve in pursuit of sustainability?
We hope that we continue to look beyond the coffee supply chains to truly understand our role and impact at origin. For many coffee farmers, coffee is only one part of their livelihood. . There is already a lively discussion about living income which we hope to see continuing. We also hope we all continue to deal with sustainability in a holistic way. Be it being CO2 neutral, be it socially sound regarding our salaries or company culture. Specialty Coffee sets itself high standards in coffee quality, it would be great to see that in all we do.
Inspired?
Keep up to date with Coffee Circle, and all the amazing work they do, on their website.
About The Sustainability Awards
The selection process for the 2022 Sustainability Awards was led by a committee of staff and volunteers, including previous SCA Sustainability Award winners. Learn more about the Sustainability Awards, including this year’s Project Category and Business Model Category award winners, as well as previous winners here.