Starbuck$ One of Ten Worst Corporate Hypocrites/Greenwashers in America

http://www.thegreenlife.org/report.html

From leader to laggard on Fair Trade

Starbucks has failed to uphold the promise of it Environmental Mission
Statement to stay "committed to a role of environmental leadership" by
yielding to its competitors on Fair Trade coffee. 24

Fair Trade is an environmental as well as a social justice issue. 80
percent of Fair Trade coffee sold in the U.S. is shade-grown, providing
a forest canopy that preserves biodiversity and protects topsoil from
erosion. 81 percent is organically grown without the use of chemical
fertilizers and pesticides. Fair Trade certification farmers have a
strong financial incentive to meet organic standards, as organic Fair
Trade coffee gathers a $0.15/lb premium over conventional coffee.
Farmers in Fair Trade co-ops receive training in soil improvement,
intercrop farming, composting and other practices that benefit the
environment. 25

In April 2000, Starbucks became a leader among major coffee companies
when it announced it would begin to offer Fair Trade coffee in thousands
of stores nationwide. Fair Trade supporters who targeted Starbucks in
campaigns against "sweatshop coffee" hailed the company's decision as
"the first step in creating a truly socially responsible and
environmentally sustainable global economy." 26

Starbucks immediately developed promotional, marketing, and educational
materials about Fair Trade, and designed Fair Trade packaging that
boldly featured the Fair Trade Certified label. The company signaled
that its foray into Fair Trade would become an integral part of its
business, and pledged "continued and growing participation" in support
of coffee farmers, their communities and their environment. 27

The first year Starbucks carried Fair Trade, the company purchased over
600,000 pounds, making it one of the country's largest roasters and
retailers of Fair Trade coffee, even though Fair Trade accounted for
less than 1 percent of Starbucks' total coffee procurement. Over the
last few years, Starbucks has steadily purchased higher volumes of Fair
Trade, yet Fair Trade still makes up less than 2 percent of the more
than 100 million pounds of coffee that Starbucks purchases annually. 28
The prominence of the Fair Trade Certified logo in Starbucks stores is
still vastly disproportionate to the actual amount of Fair Trade coffee
that passes through them.

Starbucks' commitment to Fair Trade is a far cry from the 5 percent
figure that social justice and environmental advocates such as Global
Exchange and the Organic Consumers Association would like to see
Starbucks attain. 29 Until recently, Fair Trade supporters had
difficulty criticizing Starbucks over its modest Fair Trade figures,
since most coffee companies of Starbucks' size had ignored the Fair
Trade market altogether. No matter how low a benchmark it set, as long
as none of its competitors bothered to surpass it, Starbucks could rest
comfortably in the top spot.

However, the company's days as leader-by-default are numbered. Major
retailers and producers are incorporating Fair Trade into their vast
product lines. Ahold USA, a subsidiary of the corporation that owns
Giant Food and Stop & Shop, is introducing five Fair Trade varieties in
1,200 U.S. supermarkets, while Proctor & Gamble, America's largest
coffee company, began producing Fair Trade coffee last September. This
spring, Dunkin' Donuts, one of Starbucks' top retail competitors, will
launch a Fair Trade espresso line in more than 4,000 stores nationwide.
Smaller companies are also challenging Starbucks' leadership role. 42 of
100 varieties of coffee sold by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters are Fair
Trade, compared with just one of Starbucks' nearly 50 varieties.
Starbucks' revenues are 1000 times larger than Thanksgiving Coffee
Company's, yet Starbucks sells only ten times as much Fair Trade coffee
as Thanksgiving. 30

Starbucks defends its status as a leader in the coffee industry by
claiming that it does not have to purchase Fair Trade to create social
and environmental benefits. After all, Starbucks pays an average of
$1.20/lb for its coffee, a price far closer to the $1.26/lb for Fair
Trade, and even the $1.41/lb for organic Fair Trade, than to the
$0.50-$0.70/lb average for commercial-grade Arabica beans. The high
prices, states the company, go towards supporting farmers and their
land. 31

But in fact, rather than ending up in hands of small farmers who invest
in the future of their land, most of Starbucks' payments go to owners of
large estates, middlemen and exporters who are part of an efficient, if
not enlightened network of production and distribution. If Starbucks had
to pay farmers a Fair Trade price on top of the premiums that the
intermediaries command, the overall price per pound of coffee would
become unpalatable. It is possible that Starbucks could eliminate many
of the costs in the supply chain, but in the case of Fair Trade that
would require substantial investment to train co-ops to meet the levels
of efficiency and product quality that Starbucks demands. 32

Last year, Starbucks split a $250,000 contribution with the Ford
Foundation towards a "pilot project" to help Mexican Fair Trade farmers
increase the availability of their coffee in the global marketplace. 33
A worthy investment, but like the quantity of Starbucks' Fair Trade
purchases, such nominal training expenses should be viewed against the
big picture. Starbucks earned more than $4 billion in revenue last year,
a quarter of which was profit. 34 If Starbucks had the will, it
certainly has the resources to develop Fair Trade on a grander scale. At
a time when small Fair Trade farming needs the support of multinational
coffee corporations to grow from niche market to big business,
Starbucks' brand of leadership should be hands-on.

Unlike most Fair Trade coffee in the U.S., Starbucks Fair Trade is
neither organic nor shade-grown. Though Starbucks does offer separate
organic and shade-grown varieties within its Commitment to Origins line,
it purchases no more of those than it does of Fair Trade. Starbucks
explains that of the four Commitment to Origins varieties-- Fair Trade,
Organic, Farm Direct, and Conservation--each one "plays a specific role
in supporting sustainable coffee farming practices." 35 Yet
sustainability cannot be achieved with a little social justice here and
conservation there. Starbucks is spreading corporate responsibility too
thin. The company should ensure that its Fair Trade variety is merged
with the other crucial elements of sustainability.

Currently, Starbucks offers cups of Fair Trade coffee as a Coffee of the
Day only once a month. Otherwise, Fair Trade is available only by the
bag or at extra cost by special order over the counter. Fair Trade
should be a Coffee of the Day every week.

By certifying its other Commitment to Origins coffees as Fair Trade,
increasing the availability of Fair Trade as Coffee of the Day, and
broadening its investment in hands-on training of Fair Trade farmers,
Starbucks would go far towards making Fair Trade account for at least 5
percent of its total coffee procurement. Until it meets that target and
recaptures its position of leadership, the company's symbolic
commitments, statements and pilot projects will represent little more
than greenwash.

CONTACT STARBUCKS: (800) 235-2883, www.starbucks.com