At my family’s house, we usually have Peet’s Coffee on hand. On the side of the Peet’s Coffee package, there is a small statement about the coffee being responsibly sourced. It states “Sourcing with Impact, 100% Responsibly Sourced per Enveritas Standards. Learn more at peets.com/impact”.
This statement sounds very nice, but when I gave it a bit more thought, I wondered what “responsibly sourced” actually means. According to Peet’s website, this includes auditing farms and making sure they adhere to certain standards. These standards include water conservation and workplace safety. Peet’s also states that it has over 39 active impact projects which include farmer productivity initiatives and clean water access. The website also says that it takes responsibility for protecting forests, watersheds, and livelihoods. These impact projects are in Central and South America and the Indo-Pacific.
The organization that sactions this label is called Enveritas. Personally, I have never heard of this company. But according to the Peet’s website, it is a non-profit organization that assesses the conditions on farms where the coffee is sourced. The website states that Enveritas performs over 20,000 sustainability audits per year on Peet’s coffee farms alone.
If I’m going to be honest, going through this website was a little difficult because the statements made are very vague and there wasn’t much information about what the actual standards are. There were lots of claims and statements about impact, but no tangible results. I wish there was more data and information on the specific impact programs.
Comments
Hi Bekki, I like the way you use “responsibly sourced” labels. I also believe that it is common for companies to make broad claims about sustainability, but without concrete data or transparency about specific standards, it can be difficult to assess the real impact. I also think that the specific programs and results are valid, as clearer metrics and outcomes would provide more confidence in Peet’s efforts. and it is great that you’ve identified this gap, and it might prompt deeper inquiry into how organizations like Enveritas operate and verify such claims.