Partner content: Why is George’s coffee cup empty?

Experts predict that, currently, 60%^[1] of wild coffee species are endangered and 50% of the land used to grow coffee today could be unviable by 2050^[2]!

Wait. What? Yes indeed. It is that shocking statistic that has prompted Nespresso to mark annual World Coffee day by raising awareness about the need to protect high-quality coffee from climate threat.

Brand ambassador George Clooney says: “The threat of climate change is real and coffee farmers are on the front line. It’s vital that we empower these communities to build financial and environmental resilience, so that they not only survive but thrive and prosper. This concept is at the heart of the Nespresso approach. But this is about more than coffee. Climate change is not something that a single company or even an entire industry can fix. It requires urgent, bold action on a global scale. The stakes are high.”

George Clooney stars in The Empty Cup, a new Nespresso campaign that spotlights the risk that climate change poses to farming communities as the brand steps up its long-term commitment to preserve the world’s finest coffees.

Clooney is holding an empty cup as a symbol of the risk facing many coffee growers around the world. Currently, 60% of wild coffee species are endangered and 50% of the land used to grow coffee today could be unviable by 2050. Fine-grade Arabica is particularly vulnerable to weather shocks.

Guillaume Le Cunff, Nespresso CEO, comment: “The exquisite taste, high quality, and specialty coffee blends that are important to coffee lovers are at risk. We must act to protect coffee and coffee communities against climate change. This has been the basis of Nespresso’s approach for 20 years, and now we’re going even further. Regenerative agriculture has the potential to make farming part of the solution to the climate crisis. It is an approach which doesn’t just take from the land, but actually heals nature and restores balance. I’m proud that Nespresso is pioneering this transition, but we need to do more. We’re calling on entities – both private and public – to take action that will make a tangible difference.”

Securing and protecting the future of high-quality coffee has been central to Nespresso’s strategy for the last 20 years. Launched in 2003 in collaboration with Rainforest Alliance, the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program helps to improve the yield and quality of harvests while protecting the environment and improving the livelihoods of farmers and their communities.

Empowering farming communities to protect their land against weather shocks while simultaneously combatting the causes of climate change is critical to the future sustainability of high-grade coffee. Nespresso is doing this through regenerative agriculture: an approach that has the potential to not only reduce global agri-food emissions but to increase rural resilience against the impacts of climate change.

^[1] (ICUN High extinction risk for wild coffee species and implications for coffee sector sustainability (science.org))

^[2] Expected global suitability of coffee, cashew and avocado due to climate change: Roman Grüter, Tim Trachsel, Patrick Laube, Isabel Jaisli https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0261976