by Jena Alsup

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world, so much so that it is the second most consumed beverage in the United States, trailing closely behind water. 

However, cacao production plays a large role in rainforest deforestation. The Ivory Coast, which is the largest global exporter of cacao beans — accounting for approximately a third of international cacao production — has lost over 80 percent of its forests in the past 50 years. Even more, the forests which are cut down to make space for cacao farms tend to be the most productive carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots. As the demand for coffee continues to grow annually, farms have increased production at the expense of rainforests and the wildlife they house. While the Ivory Coast government has enacted some forest protection policies, nonetheless, approximately 40 percent of cacao production is located on illegal soil that is presumably protected.

With these overwhelming statistics in mind, is there any way to consume cacao beans sustainably? When looking for environmentally-friendly coffee, it is important to focus on sustainability starting from the initial step when the cacao beans are grown, to the very last step when you dispose of the coffee grounds.

Cultivation

When buying coffee grounds, I recommend looking for the Fair Trade Certified™ label, which ensures that the farmers are paid a living wage. Also, look out for packaging certifications such as the Rainforest Alliance and Shade Grown, which validates the more sustainable farming methods, which are more eco-conscious and less likely to contribute to deforestation.

Bags

If you are buying coffee grounds, the bag must be kept airtight to keep the grounds fresh. Unfortunately, this means that the bags are often lined with plastic, making them difficult to conventionally recycle. Thus, it is much more sustainable to buy in bulk when possible or bring in your own reusable containers to fill up with coffee beans or grounds.

Drinking

Many coffee shops allow you to bring in reusable mugs, though policies may be different due to COVID-19. I recommend doing this, especially if you brew coffee at home. You may already be using a reusable cup, anyway. I also suggest experimenting with different plant-based milks, because they are produced more sustainably in comparison to dairy milk. My personal favorite plant-based milks to use for lattes are almond and oat milk.

Disposal

You can dispose of used coffee grounds in an at-home compost bin or put them through the municipal compost system. Some people also swear by using coffee as a fertilizer for their gardens and as a mechanism to keep pests away. All of these options are considerably better than simply tossing coffee grounds in the trash, because coffee grounds can produce methane in landfills.

The negative impacts of cacao production are discouraging. However, by taking proper measures to make our coffee consumption more sustainable, we can collectively work to decrease the environmental impact of cacao beans. Since coffee is consumed on a global scale, there is a greater potential for smaller sustainable practices to have a larger effect on the environmental impact of the cacao industry.