PRESS RELEASE
Amsterdam, April 22, 2026
The Espresso Cover Partnership, initiated via JDE Peet’s (now a part of Keurig Dr Pepper) used to be introduced lately to advance the identity and remediation of coffee-related deforestation.
Evolved in collaboration with main espresso corporations together with JDE Peet’s, Louis Dreyfus Corporate, Sucden, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, Touton, Sucafina, and Tchibo, the Partnership will create the sector’s first complete, openly-accessible map of world espresso manufacturing to spot deforestation dangers, give a boost to panorama recovery and offer protection to the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers.
The use of Airbus’s complex satellite tv for pc generation, the Partnership will map espresso farms throughout coffee-growing landscapes, establish spaces of woodland loss, and paintings with governments to revive landscapes and save you long run deforestation.
The Partnership initiative launches with an East Africa pilot protecting Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda – mapping 1.2 million sq. kilometers of espresso landscapes. Construction at the pilot’s good fortune, the Espresso Cover Partnership will intention to reach international protection of all coffee-growing areas in 2027 thru expanded {industry} and institutional co-investment.
The Partnership goals to give a boost to coffee-related deforestation remediation efforts through the years, topic to the provision of validated knowledge and in collaboration with governments and native communities, with the target of contributing to panorama recovery and lowering long run woodland loss.
The pilot section of the initiative is supported via the United Kingdom International, Commonwealth & Construction Workplace (FCDO) and counseled via the UN Meals and Agriculture Group (FAO).
Laurent Sagarra, VP Engagement at JDE Peet’s, mentioned:
“A sustainable coffee industry is one in which coffee production no longer contributes to forest loss. To help advance this vision, we are launching the Coffee Canopy Partnership. The Partnership is designed to move beyond fragmented, company-led deforestation initiatives by fostering collaboration at a landscape scale – supporting efforts to map and safeguard coffee-growing regions, not just individual supply chains. This is not another certification scheme; it is a sector-led initiative aimed at strengthening collective action to help keep forests vibrant and reduce the risk of coffee-driven deforestation over time. We warmly invite all players in the coffee sector to join us.”
Eric Even, Head of House Virtual at Airbus Defence and House, mentioned:
“Leveraging our very high-resolution Pléiades and Pléiades Neo satellite imagery combined with advanced AI capabilities, Airbus helps identify deforestation risk and protect our world’s forests, while simultaneously empowering food producers and smallholder farmers with the transparency and reliable data needed to strengthen their resilience and build a truly sustainable supply chain.”
A transformative method to sustainable espresso
Below the EU Deforestation Law (EUDR), espresso grown on land labeled as woodland after December 2020 won’t input EU markets. This threatens to exclude hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers from key markets, regardless of their sustainable farming practices, just because current maps incorrectly classify their agroforestry or shade-grown espresso manufacturing land as woodland.
On this context, the Espresso Cover Partnership addresses a elementary problem throughout the sector: the historic loss of actual mapping knowledge, which has incessantly led to espresso farms – particularly shade-grown and agroforestry programs – being misidentified as herbal woodland. Through leveraging refined high-resolution satellite tv for pc imagery (as much as 30cm decision), mixed with synthetic intelligence and on-the-ground verification, the Partnership will determine two definitive datasets:
A 2020-2021 baseline map appearing the actual extent of espresso cultivation, correcting fashionable misclassifications of espresso agroforestry programs as woodland.A 2024-2025 up to date map to give a boost to the identity of possible new espresso manufacturing land and spaces the place woodland exchange has happened since 2020.
Those maps are deliberate to be built-in into a clear, overtly out there geospatial platform, designed to permit farmers, governments and the espresso {industry} to get entry to knowledge that may give a boost to sustainability making plans and woodland coverage.
Statements from Partnership Individuals & supporting establishments
Kate McCoy, Director, Partnerships for Forests (P4F), mentioned: “Partnerships for Forests, funded by UK International Development, is proud to help launch the first phase of the Coffee Canopy Partnership, alongside the other consortium members. Our support is helping to set up an open and transparent monitoring platform to verify deforestation free coffee production. Phase one will deliver clear, accurate maps showing where coffee is grown and where forests are under pressure across six East African countries – including P4F priority countries in the region – Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. By creating this shared foundation, we are developing a proof of concept that can then be scaled globally to help the whole sector move towards a unified, landscape level approach that protects forests and improves market access for farmers.”
Julian Fox, Workforce Chief on Wooded area Tracking, UN Meals and Agriculture Group (FAO), mentioned: “The initiative led by JDE Peet’s and Airbus is well aligned with the AIM4Commodities program (Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests and Commodities), through which FAO promotes transparent and sustainable commodity production, encouraging sector-wide transformations toward open and inclusive data and technical solutions, protecting forests whilst leaving no one behind.”
Pablo von Waldenfels, Managing Director Company Accountability, Tchibo, mentioned: “Protecting global forests is essential for climate change mitigation, and our industry has a shared responsibility to ensure coffee is produced without deforestation. A fundamental challenge has been the lack of precise mapping data, which undermines effective conservation efforts and threatens to unfairly exclude millions of smallholder farmers from the market. The Coffee Canopy Partnership directly addresses this by creating the world’s first comprehensive, reliable, openly-accessible map of coffee landscapes. This serves as a shared public good, enabling the entire sector – from roasters and governments to the farmers themselves – to collectively prevent deforestation, restore landscapes, and secure a sustainable future for coffee.”
Olivier Laboulle, International Head of Espresso Sustainability and Social Have an effect on, Louis Dreyfus Corporate (LDC), mentioned: “In a context of accelerating environmental challenges, the Coffee Canopy Partnership represents a meaningful step toward more sustainable coffee production. By bringing together Airbus’ satellite imagery and AI expertise with the insight and capabilities of leading coffee companies, this collaboration has the potential to deliver tangible, long-term benefits for both farmers and the environment.
As a leading global merchant and processor of agricultural goods, active across the entire coffee value chain, we see strong data foundations and collaboration as essential enablers of sustainability at scale. We are therefore proud to stand alongside like-minded partners to support this initiative that fully aligns with LDC’s own environmental goals.”
Marten Sievers, CEO EMEA, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, said: “This Partnership proves that the coffee sector can move beyond fragmented efforts and build something genuinely shared. By working pre competitively, we can evaluate what works at scale, adjust where it doesn’t, and raise the bar together. If we want deforestation free coffee, we need to learn as a sector, not compete on solutions the planet urgently needs.”
Justin Archer, Head of Sustainability, Sucafina, said: “The Coffee Canopy Project will give the coffee industry something it has been sorely lacking: a single source of truth on where deforestation risk is real. It is also a rare example of the kind of pre-competitive collaboration coffee sustainability needs more of – pooling knowledge so we can stop duplicating efforts and direct collective resources where they matter most for farmers and the long-term integrity of the supply chain.”
Veronika Semelkova, Head of Sustainability, Sucden Coffee, said: “The Canopy Project sets a new benchmark for how the EUDR can be implemented in a way that genuinely tackles deforestation. It demonstrates unprecedented leadership, ambition, and collaboration in the pre-competitive space, delivering an open-source, aligned methodology that the entire sector can build on.”
Joseph Larrose, Deputy Managing Director – Sustainability, Supply Chain, Innovation & Communication, Touton, said: “We are proud to join forces with our peers and Airbus in the Coffee Canopy Partnership. At Touton, we believe that trust, shared responsibility and innovation are essential to building a deforestation-free coffee sector. With strong roots in East Africa, we see the critical importance of a common, science-based mapping reference recognised by producers, governments and industry alike. It strengthens the robustness of our data, supports compliance, and enables effective collective action on the ground. This partnership is also a key milestone in delivering on our commitment to no deforestation by 2035.”
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Notes to Editors
For JDE Peet’s, the Coffee Canopy Partnership builds on more than a decade of work to prevent deforestation and is part of the company’s broader Nature Transition Plan, aligned with the Global Biodiversity Framework, Science Based Targets for Nature and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.Airbus Defence and Space provides satellite data and mapping services to the Partnership on a commercial basis, using sophisticated very high-resolution imagery and AI-powered analysis.The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provides methodological guidance and quality assurance protocols and will use the 2020 coffee map to improve global forest mapping by excluding coffee production land under shade or agroforestry systems.The Coffee Canopy Partnership’s East Africa pilot will map coffee production across Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda – covering 1.2 million square kilometers. Deliveries will begin in April 2026, with the full pilot dataset completed by June 2026. Specific goals of the Coffee Canopy Partnership include: Enable deforestation remediation: By comparing forest maps with coffee production land data, the project will identify instances of actual coffee-related deforestation and engage with origin countries and communities into their remediation. Provide transparent data: The Coffee Canopy Partnership will give all stakeholders – from smallholder farmers to governments – access to reliable, science-based information for decision-making, helping remediate affected areas and prevent future forest loss.Protect farmer livelihoods: Accurate identification of coffee production land under shade or agroforestry systems will prevent unfair market exclusion. Farmers will gain access to coffee zone maps via an open geospatial platform, allowing them to verify whether their land has been correctly identified as coffee cultivation. Full high-resolution data is available to origin governments at no cost.Support producing countries: Governments in coffee-producing countries will gain a powerful tool for monitoring and enforcement of deforestation-free production, supporting the sustainability of national coffee industries.
Reduce climate risk: Reducing coffee-related deforestation can contribute to climate change mitigation by protecting critical carbon sinks and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, safeguarding the future of coffee production.
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About JDE Peet’s
JDE Peet’s – now a part of Keurig Dr Pepper – is the sector’s main pure-play espresso corporate, with a presence in additional than 100 markets. Guided via our ‘Reignite the Amazing’ technique, we’re interested by brand-led expansion throughout 3 large bets: Peet’s, L’OR, and our 10 strategically decided on native icons led via Jacobs. In 2025, JDE Peet’s generated general gross sales of EUR 9.9 billion and hired a world group of workers of greater than 21,000 workers. Uncover extra about our adventure to ship a espresso for each cup and a model for each middle at www.jdepeets.com.
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