Coffee Watch Publications
Wake Up and Smell the Deforestation
Ahead of the Brazilian COP, a new Coffee Watch analysis finds that from 2001 to 2023, Brazilian municipalities with dense coffee cultivation lost more than 11 million hectares of forest. Within that footprint, at least 312,803 hectares were directly cleared for coffee, a footprint on the scale of Honduras. The report links forest loss to drying trends across the coffee belt, and the rainfall losses to crop failures.VOCAL network letter to EU Leaders
VOCAL network calls on EU leaders to uphold the EU's commitment to the EUDR - particularly in light of recent discussions surround a "zero-risk" category and extended postponement of the EUDR's implementation.
Joint Statement: IT’S TIME TO ENFORCE THE EU DEFORESTATION LAW
Joint Statement: IT’S TIME TO ENFORCE THE EU DEFORESTATION LAW! The EUDR is currently facing significant pushback. Last week, the European Commission published a new proposal introducing simplification measures for the EUDR. However, several Member States believe the proposal doesn’t go far enough and are calling for additional weakening of the law. At the same time, a coalition of business associations is advocating for a “stop the clock” measure, which would effectively suspend implementation and reopen negotiations from scratch. In response, we’ve joined 74 NGOs in a statement urging policymakers to ensure the EUDR is implemented by the end of the year. We are not endorsing per se the European Commission's proposal, but rather appealing to the Council to refrain from weakening the legislative text further, given that the changes proposed by the European Commission are already significant.
Checking EUDR Non-Compliance in Brazil's Rondônia Region
This coffee risk profile of Brazil’s coffee production state Rondônia is part of a series of reports on key commodities’ producing, trading, and buyer regions and companies that will serve as input for AidEnvironment’s Compliance Checker, an interactive case studies’ Dashboard. This sustainability risk profile of Amazon state Rondônia, Brazil’s 5th largest coffee producing state and 2nd largest producer of robusta coffee, analyses potential noncompliance case studies in the scope of the EU regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR).
The World's Best Coffee?
Repórter Brasil, with support from Coffee Watch, visited properties that hold major certifications and found bathrooms without showers, dark and poorly ventilated rooms, and improvised kitchens. Not to mention long working hours and a lack of formal employment contracts.
Reports to BAFA Challenge Coffee Giants Under Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Law
The organizations Coffee Watch, International Rights Advocates, and other NGOs, have filed reports under the German Supply Chain Act against Nestlé, AmRest/Starbucks, and Dallmayr. These reports document serious human rights violations along the companies' supply chains on coffee farms in China, Mexico, Brazil, and Uganda – including child and forced labor, massive violations of labor protection standards, and wage exploitation.
How Tariff Wars and Tariffs Crush Coffee-Growing Countries
Across the global coffee trade, a quiet injustice brews: coffee-producing countries are systematically penalized for adding value to their own beans, locked into poverty by tariff systems that reward raw exports and punish local processing. Now, with the U.S. escalating a tariff war that threatens even unprocessed coffee beans, these exploitative policies are no longer hidden—they’re becoming even more damaging.Joint Statement: Proposals to simplify EUDR threaten forest protection and EU’s credibility
In a joint statement, CSOs call on all EU institutions and Member States to stand by the commitments made, to uphold the integrity of the EUDR, and to focus on enabling implementation — not dismantling a regulation that is essential for forests, climate action, and global credibility.
Ally Publications
Amazon Footprint Report 2025
According to this comprehensive report, for Sweden, coffee has now overtaken beef as the imported product in the country that affects Brazilian deforestation the most.
Syngenta coffee from farms with slavery-like working conditions
A subsidiary of the Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta, Nutrade Commercial Exportadora Ltd., and its associated brand Nucoffee, have repeatedly sold coffee from Brazilian farms where working conditions were similar to slavery.
Brazilian workers enslaved by Nestlé's coffee suppliers
An exclusive investigation by Public Eye in collaboration with Repórter Brasil sheds light on several cases of modern slavery perpetrated by Nestlé's coffee suppliers in Brazil.
High hopes, low prices: How Nestlé is driving Mexican coffee farmers to ruin
Nestlé wants to be a leader in terms of ethical behaviour. However, Nestlé pursues a ruthless purchasing policy, particularly for its instant coffee. The farmers pay the price, as research in Southern Mexico shows.
Deforestation Linked to Agriculture
This article shows that nearly 2 Mha of forest were replaced by coffee plantations between 2001 and 2015, of which 1.1 Mha were for robusta coffee and 0.8 Mha were for arabica coffee.
Bitter brew: Modern slavery in the coffee industry in Brazil
Despite repeated pledges to address the issue, major coffee brands are still failing to eradicate modern slavery from their supply chains. This report documents forced labour, debt bondage, and other abhorrent forms of exploitation in Brazilian coffee.
