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Climate change’s impact on coffee

Studies estimate that by 2050, half of the world’s coffee-growing lands will become unsuitable for coffee due to climate change. That could spell disaster for the nearly $70 billion industry that over 150 million people depend on in some way or another. 

Climate change’s impact has been seen for decades in coffee-growing countries. It affects every point in the process: from the time it takes coffee trees to fruit, to changing harvests, to all-out decimation from catastrophic rains and other extreme weather events. 

Coming together to combat climate change

At Peace Coffee, we’ve made strategic decisions to put people and planet over profit to create a viable ecosystem for coffee farmers and their lands. Every day farmers across the globe face challenges that can often make or break their entire growing season.

One way small-scale farmers can confront the challenges presented by climate change is through growing cooperatives. Cooperatives empower farmers to have a voice in the supply chain and gain access to knowledge and resources to adapt their farming techniques to environmental changes.

Cooperatives also provide premiums for quality, organic and fair trade certification that enable farmers to purchase efficient modern equipment, composting tools, and the development of model farms to promote farmer-to-farmer learning.

We’ve invested over $50k to help farmers fight climate change

We formed the Climate, Carbon, and Coffee Initiative with other like-minded coffee roasters in 2017. We invest 3¢ from each pound of coffee purchased to local initiatives to help farmers adapt to climate change.  Some of C3’s projects include replanting abandoned plots to create test farms and conferences for farmers to exchange new tools and techniques.


“A rich cup of coffee is one of life’s little pleasures, but it will become more difficult and expensive to obtain in the near future. Coffee is among the crops under threat from climate change.”

— Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza, Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment

“An extensive study published in January found that 60% of wild coffee species — or 75 of 124 plants — are at risk of extinction.”

— Science Advances

Lessening our impact here at home

We pioneered large-scale bicycle delivery in the Twin Cities over 25 years ago, and still two-wheel deliver 50% of our coffee locally. We roast our coffee inside The Greenway Building which uses solar power and geothermal heat, reclaimed materials, and its central location limits transport distance for local deliveries.

On a larger scale, we’re always looking for new ways to cut our carbon footprint. We recently switched to intermodal transit for our green coffee which uses a combination of transport options, saving nearly 300,000 pounds of carbon emissions each year. This reduces our inbound footprint by 60%.

We compost or recycle the majority of waste from our roastery. We also support local climate change advocacy and awareness efforts by supporting amazing organizations like Climate Generation, Grow Ahead, and Save the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

A group effort

We encourage you to explore what you can do to fight climate change, too. Start today by purchasing organically grown products that restore the land rather than taking precious nutrients and expelling excess carbon.

Be mindful of your consumption, take more walks and fewer drives, educate yourself on the issues, and support organizations that are doing essential work locally and globally to help us take back our planet and keep its future bright for our farmers across the globe and our neighbors here at home.


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Published by Peace Coffee on March 5, 2023.

Sure! Here is approximately how long each of our package sizes lasts, based on mugs per day.

Daily Brew 12oz 20oz 5lb
1 mug / day
Pourover
3 weeks 1 month 4 months
3 mugs / day
French Press
1 week 2 weeks 2 months
6 mugs / day
Chemex
1 week 1 week 6 weeks
8 mugs / day
Drip Brewer
< 1 week 1 week 4 weeks

Your brew strength and mug size may vary!


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