The environment

Luigi Lavazza, 1934

We believe that a healthy environment is a universal right and a shared responsibility

We work to create change for the better across the entire supply chain

We invest in innovation to leave a better world for future generations

We love the Earth and fight passionately to improve its future

We strive every day to reduce climate impact and promote a circular economy

Given these ambitions, and with the adoption of a scientific approach to setting and assessing environmental targets in an integrated process, stretching from the coffee bean to the espresso cup, we have developed a sustainability strategy divided into four main areas: 

Many human activities contribute to increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which in turn contributes to global climate change. The effects of this can be felt on coffee plantations too, causing a loss of biodiversity and a drop in productivity and quality, with negative consequences for the living conditions of the growers.

Our aim is to contribute to the fight against climate change by zeroing the carbon emissions generated throughout the Group’s entire value chain with a strategy for lowering and offsetting emissions: the “Roadmap to Zero”.

This is a gradual process: the first steps consist of monitoring and quantifying the emissions, followed by continuous improvement measures with the aim of increasing efficiency and reducing impacts, and finally offsetting the residual emissions.

The procedure aims to make our Group “carbon neutral”, i.e. to reduce our net CO₂ emissions to zero by balancing the production and absorption of emissions through offsetting programmes. These programmes involve the purchasing of carbon credits or so-called “green credits”, each of them equivalent to either the non-emission or the absorption of one tonne of CO₂, which are generated by supporting and financing projects with a positive impact outside our supply chain. Each credit acquired represents the successful reduction or elimination of one tonne of CO₂ released into the atmosphere, offsetting those emissions which cannot be avoided. But that’s not all: in most cases, purchasing carbon credits also means financing and supporting sustainable development projects that contribute to improving living conditions in local communities, thereby ensuring social, economic and environmental benefits on a global scale.

In 2020,  we reached a first important milestone on the Roadmap to Zero: zeroing the CO2 emissions generated by activities under our direct control and originating from sources which are owned, controlled and present within the organisation itself (scope 1) , as well as indirect emissions deriving from the generation of the electricity, heat and steam purchased and consumed (scope 2). In fact, as of 2020, all activities within manufacturing plants, offices, flagship stores and company vehicles have achieved carbon neutrality.

We also aim to offset indirect emissions across the entire supply chain, both upstream and downstream of our operations (scope 3): from green coffee to packaging, and from logistics to disposal.  In 2021, we took a big step in this direction by achieving carbon neutrality for five product ranges in various Group business channels.

Over 125 years of experience in the field have taught our Group to focus its initiatives at the source of the coffee, places where we know we can make a significant and long-term impact by engaging with and supporting coffee-producing communities.

Through the Lavazza Foundation, we play an active role in sustainable development projects, which help coffee-growers to adopt the most suitable agricultural techniques to effectively respond to the impacts of climate change and promote good practices for the preservation of areas with a high natural value.

In recent years, the Lavazza Foundation has intensified its reforestation and anti-deforestation projects in partnership with non-governmental organisations and international institutions. In the Amazon rainforest in Peru, the project has involved the preservation of 36,000 hectares of forest and the planting of Brazil nut trees, an invaluable environmental resource: these trees can grow as tall as 50 metres, live for up to 700 years, and store around 64,000 kg of CO₂ during the course of their lives. In the Yayu UNESCO biosphere reserve in Ethiopia, alternative planting models known as “garden coffee” have been adopted to protect against deforestation. In Ecuador, an agreement has been reached to set up and run a programme to transform Ecuadorian coffee into “zero-deforestation” coffee. Projects in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Colombia have enabled the planting of over 15 million coffee plants, while respecting the biodiversity of the environment. 

Our aim is to guarantee maximum coffee quality with the minimum possible environmental impact. This falls within the activities of Research and Development, thanks to experimentation with and implementation of the most innovative techniques from the very earliest stages of designing packaging, coffee machines and production models.

Moreover, the pursuit of sustainability by design follows the principles of the circular economy to prevent waste and reduce environmental impact, increasing efficiency and reducing emissions and the production of waste throughout the product’s entire life cycle. Drawing inspiration from nature, the “design for circularity” approach we adopted sets itself the aim of optimising our use of resources, favouring renewable and recycled ones, and extracting value from products at the end of their life through reuse, recycling and composting.

Given this focus on reducing environmental impacts and on circularity, we set out a strategic plan centred around the “Sustainable Packaging Roadmap”, which aims to make the entire range of packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by the end of 2025.

We reached an important milestone in this area in 2021, with 65% of packaging recyclable across the Group’s entire product range and peaks of 95% for flexible packaging, such as the solutions we launched on the market first with Lavazza ¡Tierra!, our iconic range of socially and environmentally sustainable products.

Another role model is provided by Lavazza Professional and its launch of Eco Cups, paper cups which can be recycled up to seven times and are easy to dispose of in waste-sorting systems, even in the strictest supply chains such as those in Germany or the UK.

Another example is that of the coffee machines for the Lavazza A Modo Mio home espresso system which we designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions throughout their entire life cycle. From a technical point of view, our objective is to develop highly energy-efficient machines, with minimum energy classes from A+ to A++. We also aim to reach a rate of 60% for plastic materials from recycled sources, used in the parts that do not come into contact with food. This commitment is paired with ongoing work that seeks to reduce the weight of the coffee machines and to use packaging materials from recycled sources. 

Our Circular Economy Manifesto sets out the four pillars of our commitment and our strategy.

A supply chain as complex and far-ranging as that of coffee requires a detailed strategy aimed at reducing its impact on the environment, including through the responsible use of natural resources, from production to consumption. This is why we adopt protocols for the purpose of achieving maximum energy efficiency and the sustainable management of water and waste.

As part of our pursuit of continuous improvement, we have embarked on a range of activities over the years to increase our use of electricity from renewable resources. In Italy and France, for example, 100% of supplies come from inexhaustible resources. Indeed, between 2012 and 2014 this progress had already resulted in a 90% reduction in correlated CO₂ emissions in Italy.