SoL_Sustainability sustainability plan

Partnering with Coffee-Growing Communities

Strong relationships with our farmers help improve the quality of coffee, and the quality of life, in communities around the world. In our coffee-growing communities we have a unique responsibility – and a vested interest – in supporting sustainability and a thriving economy. Our outreach in coffee-growing communities takes the form of both on-the-ground assistance and financial grants.

Supporting Local Communities

Being in the coffee business gives us the chance to make an impact in communities around the world, supporting the economic, social and environmental goals in the communities we touch.  Our commitment is equally strong at home - in the neighborhoods near our headquarters here in Vermont, the communities where our remote warehouses are located, and the cities and towns where people enjoy our coffees, we support community organizations aligned with our social and environmental goals.

Since 1999, we have supported local communities through our Brewing A Better World Fund in four ways:
Domestic Grantmaking: We support organizations aligned with our social and environmental goals through our Brewing A Better Word Fund.
Employee Volunteerism: We facilitate employee volunteerism with a program that allows employeesto volunteer locally during normal working hours.
In-kind Donations: We donate coffee and other products to non-profit organizations for fundraisers, events, or for general organizational support.
Employee Giving: We encourage employee giving by matching charitable gifts up to $500 per year per employee.

Protecting the Environment

We
depend on the land to make our living. This is true in places where
coffee is grown, like Indonesia, Guatemala, and Rwanda, but it’s just
as true at our headquarters in Vermont, or in any of the thousands of
locations where Green Mountain Coffee and Keurig® Single-Cup Brewing
Systems are sold.

Waste reduction and responsible energy use have been two of our top priorities from the beginning. Visit www.gmcr.com/environment to learn more.

Promoting Sustainable Coffee

Sourcing is the choice of how, where, and from whom we buy our coffees. It presents an incredible opportunity to improve the quality of life for coffee growers and their families.
We, and others in the coffee industry, are actively rethinking how to work more closely with our trading partners. Several models have surfaced or evolved to address the anonymity of commodities and to create opportunities for more equitable trade. We understand that the coffee industry depends on social and ecological sustainability and that sustainability depends on a supply chain that recognizes and trades value appropriately.

All of our coffees are sourced in one of three ways:
* The Fair Trade Certified™ and Fair Trade Certified™ organic systems
* Our own Farm Identified designation
* Conventional sourcing
We measure and report purchases of all three sourcing methodologies.

Working Together for Change

There’s no limit to what we can achieve when we work together.  We are all more powerful when we work together toward a common goal. Whenever possible, we work with organizations "at source" that have on-the-ground expertise and knowledge of the local culture. For example, Root Capital provides crucial pre-harvest financing to coffee-growing cooperatives all over the world, Coffee Kids® has helped thousands of children and families improve the quality of their lives in Latin America, and Grounds for Health provides healthcare services to coffee-farming communities in Mexico and Central America.

Creating a Great Place to Work

We support
the individual aspirations, beliefs and values of everyone who works at
GMCR Inc. We believe a collaborative and appreciative work environment
with a high level of individual respect leads to sustainable business
results.

Investing in our employees creates
the wholeness of engagement, improvement, and community building. Our
relationships with our employees and the opportunities we cultivate are
central to our understanding of corporate social amd environmental
responsibility.