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STORIES OF
SUSTAINABILITY

Your experience of enjoying a cup of illy coffee at a café or at home ends with a smile but starts in the countries where we source our coffee. Quality and sustainability are roads of continuous improvement that we must follow together: a single action can make all the difference.

Scroll through each story to learn more about our projects.

We support schools in Nicaragua

We offer quality education to young people to improve social and economic sustainability.

We fund the Seeds for Progress Foundation, which supports rural schools, builds new ones and trains teachers. This initiative offers easier access and quality education to young people which improves social and economic sustainability.

We reforest Colombia

We clean up the aquifers and repopulate the native vegetation.

Since 2013, we have been repopulating the native vegetation, restoring the aquifers and improving the living environment of coffee farmers. This is our way of taking care of the planet, pursuing paths towards environmental and social sustainability.

At the end of 2019, we: reforested 70 hectares of land and installed 76 wastewater treatment systems; created 23 coffee pulp processing facilities of, trained 99 families of producers; and trained 60 Támara school students on environmental best practices.

We support women
in Rwanda

For us, supporting women means supporting an entire community.

In 2019, we financed the purchase of a coffee plantation and the planting of 2,500 certified quality coffee trees to be used as a Farmer Field School for a cooperative of 40 coffee producers in the Hindiro area.

We promote the protection
of biodiversity

Thanks to the “Viveiro de Atitude” program we have built a nursery to ensure biodiversity.

We safeguard biodiversity and water resources and promote environmental education in Brazil. The "Viveiro de Atitude" program involves the construction of a nursery that houses over 100 plant species native to the Cerrado region.

The plants are distributed to producers creating green resources for the city of Monte Carmelo. Proceeds from the sale are donated to local organizations to support children and the elderly.

We improve quality
through research

To ensure a better future, we support research and share the results with the community.

Investing in research is essential for those who pursue the dream of guaranteeing a sustainable future, including coffee cultivation. For this reason, we collaborated on a groundbreaking research project which sequenced the genome of Arabica coffee, and we made these results available to everyone.

It is estimated that by 2050 the land suitable for the cultivation of Arabica coffee will be reduced by 50%. Thanks to this groundbreaking research, farmers can now adapt plants to changing climatic conditions, such as rising temperatures, prolonged drought and severe flooding.

We reduce
water consumption

Every drop of water is precious, which is why we have embarked on a path with the goal of environmental sustainability.

In 2019, as a result of our support, 13 producers in Nicaragua and Honduras were able to implement a new wastewater treatment system in order to reduce water consumption by 35%, safeguarding resources and reducing our impact on the planet.

We defend coffee culture in Colombia

With the “Escuela y Café” project, we provide producers with professional skills and a bright future.

Part of our coffee comes from the plantations run by 62 rural schools in the Cauca region of Colombia. We financed the "Escuela y Café" project reducing early school student drop-out rates, combatting child labor, and improving education.

The project also gives students 1,500 coffee seeds per year to to plant on their family farms, resulting in a productive plantation by the end of their six-year school term. This provides financial resources and opportunities to attend University after school or start their own business.

We cultivate human relationships

A quality coffee must not only be sustainable from an environmental point of view, but also from an economic and social one.

Our goal is to support communities around the world in the creation of excellent and sustainable manufacturing practices. For this reason, we are committed to building lasting relationships with farmers, based on knowledge-sharing and sustainable growth.

We promote sustainable purchasing processes

We raise sustainability standards through our coffee procurement process and certification protocol.

At illy, sustainability must be pursued at every stage of the production process. Thanks to our new certification protocol for the coffee procurement process, we monitor supply chains, guarantee product quality, and protect the environment and worker safety.