If you are interested in calculating your personal carbon footprint like I am, you might be interested to see some interesting facts I’ve uncovered about the carbon footprint of coffee.
1. Instant Coffee Has the Lowest Carbon Footprint
Are you happy to switch your barista latte for a cup of instant coffee from a jar? Well, you might have just saved 50% of the carbon footprint for your coffee habit.
Most countries that are predominately tea drinkers have a good market for instant coffee. That is the type of coffee you scoop out of a glass jar with a spoon and dissolve in water (not the pods). In fact, the global market for instant coffee is growing.
2. 25 Million People Worldwide Make a Living In The Coffee Industry
Coffee is a big business industry. It is said that 25 million people work in this field. It is worth over $100 billion worldwide putting it ahead of gas, oil, sugar and corn.
Jobs are important all along the chain from the farmers to the roasters to the distributors.
3. Coffee has a Water Footprint of 140L of water for 1 cup of coffee
It is mind blowing to realize that it takes 140L of water to produce just 1 cup of coffee or one espresso.
The coffee has noticed the effects of climate change. Rising temperatures have brought about drought in some areas that are used to grow the coffee. In some regions with no irrigation, the coffee yeilds have been 80% less some years.
4. 600 billion cups of coffee every day
Disposable coffee cups are a huge problem. They cannot be recycled in most places and are sent to the landfill or worse the ocean.
The disposal is not the only issue, the production and transport of these cups also has a carbon footprint.
5. Shade-Grown Coffee Has a Significantly Smaller Carbon Footprint
In the past, coffee was grown in harmony with trees and other bushes. In this manner, the emissions of growing and harvesting the coffee were minimal. As the demand for coffee grew, a new way to grow the coffee was created to maximize the sunlight for this plant.
Deforestation became the norm for planting crops of coffee. This alone caused an increase in the carbon footprint as less trees are available to remove carbon. Also, the plants now required much more water since they are in full sun.
Coffee plantations are also problematic because of the lack of biodiversity. Different plants living together work with each other to protect against diseases. As the climate changes, there is a risk that 60% of all coffee species will become extinct because they are vulnerable in this mono-diverse environment.
Furthermore, coffee grown without biodiversity requires more fertilizer. This significantly increases the emissions caused when harvesting the plant. The fertilizer alone causes more emissions than transporting the coffee by boat across oceans.
6. 50% Of The Emissions Of Coffee Come From Consumer Level
The greatest area of carbon emissions for coffee happens at the consumption stage. Coffee shops require heating, machines, disposable cups, water flowing through equipment etc.
50% of the approximately 10 pounds of carbon emissions created from an average pound of coffee comes from retail and consumer level.
Incae business school in Costa Rica did a study on their total emissions of the countries coffee industry. Farming uses fertilizers , miling coffee beans 13%, transportation by ship (5.5%) roasting (4%), grinding and purchasing (5.5%) packaging (2.5%) disposal (3%)
Should We All Stop Drinking Coffee?
Coffee is the third most consumed beverage around the world, after water and tea. The rate of coffee consumption is increasing at 2.5% each year. If coffee has such a large carbon footprint and has no nutritional value, should we all just stop drinking it?
Here are a few tips to help you mitigate the carbon footprint if you decide it is too joyful to cut out altogether:
- Make your coffee at home
- Try to purchase shade grown coffee
- Avoid disposable pods. Even the inventor of K-cups feels guilty and doesn’t even use them
- Choose instant coffee
- Drink it black
- Boil only the amount of water you will use
- Don’t add sugar or other sweeteners
Another Interesting Fact
Traces of caffeine in rural systems are found to affect animals from far away streams. This can cause the animals to become stressed and there is a potential for genetic mutation from the stimulant.
Recent Content
Green Parenting - Tips To Raising Environmentally Friendly Kids
It is more important now than ever to raise an environmentally conscious next generation. Children are the future so let's be sure to raise them with a respect of nature! To raise...
Thinking about buying a new (or used) car is a big decision for most people. It is one of the biggest purchases people make in terms of expense and ownership time. The options can be daunting...