Several coffee companies and commodity traders are launching a new satellite based system to track deforestation linked to coffee cultivation around the world, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by JDE Peet’s, one of the companies involved in the initiative.
The new program, known as the Coffee Canopy Partnership, will use satellite imagery supplied by Airbus together with artificial intelligence models to map coffee farms and identify nearby areas affected by forest loss. The initiative is intended to improve the accuracy of land classification, support forest restoration efforts, and help prevent future deforestation in coffee-producing regions.
The partnership includes a number of major coffee industry players, among them JDE Peet’s, Tchibo, Louis Dreyfus Company, Sucden, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, Touton, and Sucafina. The participating companies said the system is designed to help governments, local communities, and the coffee sector better understand where deforestation risks exist and where restoration efforts may be needed.
The first phase of the initiative will focus on East Africa, covering Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda. The longer term goal is to expand coverage to all coffee growing regions globally by 2027.
The launch comes as the coffee sector faces increasing pressure to comply with the European Union Deforestation Regulation. Under the regulation, coffee grown on land classified as forest after December 2020 will not be allowed to enter EU markets once the rules take effect. The regulation is expected to apply from December 30 for large corporations and from June 30, 2027 for micro and small enterprises.
The companies behind the initiative say existing maps have often wrongly classified agroforestry and shade grown coffee farms as natural forest. They warn that this has created risks for millions of smallholder farmers who could be excluded from important export markets despite using sustainable farming practices. The new system is intended to address that problem by producing more precise mapping data and making it available for consultation by farmers, governments, and the wider coffee industry.
The Coffee Canopy Partnership reflects a growing push within the coffee sector to strengthen environmental monitoring and improve transparency in supply chains as sustainability requirements become more demanding.
Source: Reuters
