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Farmers are an underrated bunch. While we're busily spending our days in PowerPoint presentations and double checking there isn't a word that rhymes with orange, they're out there feeding the entire world (which is an even tougher job than you'd think). That's why we want to do everything we can to understand the challenges they face and figure out ways we can help. We're working with our farmers to make sure our ingredients are grown in a way that’s good for them and good for the planet they’re grown on.
Right now, we're working on a whole load of projects that will reduce inequality, cut back carbon emissions, support biodiversity and help us reach our goal of sustainably sourcing 100% of our ingredients by 2023.
Getting hold of delicious ingredients is easy. Getting hold of delicious ingredients that protect people's human rights, combat climate change and are verified as sustainably sourced is a bit trickier. Here's the journey we're on to make sure every single thing we squeeze or crush into a bottle is doing good for people and the planet.
We like to get up close and personal with our farmers. Nothing beats a good natter over a cup of tea, so we regularly meet up with them, independent auditors and people from global sustainability organisations to chat about how we can grow our ingredients in the most sustainable way.
Since we developed our own sustainability standards back in 2007, the number of brands and retailers using standards, certification schemes and labelling schemes has grown to the point where the burden on some suppliers is too much. To sort this out, we teamed up with the SAI (Sustainable Agriculture Initiative) and over a hundred other brands to commit to meeting the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) standard. We've developed three pathways with our suppliers, which help them to meet the FSA standard through implementation, equivalency with other formally approved standards such as Rainforest Alliance, or a sustainability-driven project. If you get as fired up about sustainability standards in agriculture as we do, you can read about the initiative here
Hitting sustainability standards is just one piece of the sustainable farming puzzle. We're also investing in other areas to help reduce inequality, increase biodiversity and tackle the big issue of climate change.
We've teamed up with Emerging Leaders (a charity who specialise in unlocking human potential) to help support and empower farmers in more vulnerable communities. This is all part of our aim to reduce inequality by investing in 10,000 farming livelihoods by 2023.
Bees are great. And we’re not just talking about their knees. If it wasn’t for these little flying pollinators, growing the fruit that’s crushed into our drinks would be tricky. So we're investing in a few new projects that aim to support the world's pollinators by building bee hotels, creating wildlife corridors and reducing the use of pesticides. We'll be testing everything out across 1,000 hectares of land, then once we have a good idea of what's working and what's not, we'll roll it out on a bigger scale.
Growing, squashing and transporting our ingredients is where 57% of our carbon footprint comes from. We're working on ways to cut carbon from our farms, and every other part of our business too.