Why We List the Sustainable Development Goals
By Mubarek Daha
Complicated things get simplified all the time, often with good intentions. But there's a risk: in making something more accessible, we can lose what made it worth understanding in the first place. Coffee is no exception. Behind every bag of beans is a network of people, places and decisions that resist being reduced to a single word or icon. Efforts small and large that not only contribute to the high quality coffee we enjoy, but also impact the communities, and ecosystems we rely on for supply of such great beans.
A word that comes up often when discussing how ethical, or the potential positive impact of a product is "sustainability". Ask ten people what sustainable coffee means and you'll likely get ten different answers. Some will think of forests and biodiversity, others of fair pay, clean water, renewable energy or education. None of those answers are wrong, sustainability isn't one thing; it's the balance of many. Which means as a goal, making our business "more sustainable" is noble, but vague.
No farm is perfect. No supply chain is without trade-offs. Sustainability isn't a destination reached once and for all; it's a continual process of asking better questions and making better decisions. Which raises another question: how do you communicate something so complex without oversimplifying it? For us, part of the answer is the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a framework of seventeen global goals adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015. Together, they provide a shared language for discussing some of the world's biggest challenges, including poverty, education, clean water, responsible production, climate action and biodiversity.
What makes the SDGs particularly valuable is that they're not simply a list of ambitions. Each goal is backed by specific targets and measurable indicators, which nation states can adapt to their own context. In total, there are 169 targets and more than 230 indicators designed to track real progress. Those indicators move the conversation away from intentions and towards evidence. Instead of saying we care about water, we can ask whether water consumption has been reduced. Rather than claiming to support communities, we can look for real improvements in livelihoods, education or working conditions. They push us toward transparency over assumption, and measurable outcomes over broad statements.
That's why we chose the SDGs. They weren't created for the coffee industry, and they weren't designed as a marketing tool or accreditation scheme. They give us a framework that's recognised around the world, a way to describe impact in a language that extends far beyond coffee itself. The icons you'll find on our website don't represent what we've done. They represent work that began long before a coffee ever reached our roastery: years of decisions made by producers, farm workers, mills and local communities about protecting ecosystems, investing in people, improving processing, managing water, supporting education and building resilient businesses. The SDGs simply help us recognise those efforts more clearly.
Producers such as Los Romerillos are investing in reforestation across their farms. Together, we agreed that part of the price paid for their coffee would fund the purchase and planting of 119 shade trees, including 35 fruit trees to improve food security. This work supports several goals, including Climate Action, Life on Land and Partnerships for the Goals. Many coffees contribute to more than one goal, because sustainability rarely exists in isolation. Sholi Co-Operative Mill, a coffee that we purchase from the Kundwa Women Coffee group, set up in 2008 by 30 women seeking to invigorate their local community, contributing to the Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities goals.
We don't believe sustainability can be reduced to a single claim, so we don't try to print it as one. It's something to pursue continually: harvest after harvest, roast after roast, throughout every part of the value chain. If the SDGs help us tell that story with more honesty and clarity, they're worth placing alongside every coffee we roast. With that in mind, when we use the SDGs in our communications, we're highlighting the specific actions on farms, beyond standard coffee-production practices, that informed our decision to buy a particular coffee. We share them so you can choose coffees that align with your own values and preferences. Flavour, processing methods and scores still matter; the SDGs simply broaden the picture to include the people, ecosystems and communities that make exceptional coffee possible.
