Lead by experienced professionals and backed Löfbergs the new company GrowGrounds has set out to change a global coffee industry with major climate and environmental challenges. In collaboration with coffee farmers all over the world, the goal is to eliminate coffee's negative CO2 impact and restore nature, and simultaneously ensure income and better living conditions for the coffee farmers.
The coffee roaster Löfbergs sells the British brand Percol to India-based Continental Coffee. With this transaction, Löfbergs will fully focus on its own brand in the UK.
The non-profit partnership International Coffee Partners (ICP) has announced its new Chair: Rui Miguel Nabeiro, CEO of Grupo Nabeiro/Delta Cafés, Portugal. He is taking over the role from Kathrine Löfberg, Chair of the Board at Löfbergs, Sweden, who was in office for the past six years.
After several years of development, the Swedish-based coffee roaster Löfbergs is now presenting a world first in the form of coffee packages in mono-laminate. The benefit of the new packaging is that it can be recycled instead of incinerated, which creates prerequisites for a circular economy. The climate impact is reduced with 55 per cent compared to previous packages.
There is a need for increased justice in the value chain and we work with that in several different ways. For instance, certifications. We imported the first container of organic coffee to Sweden in 1995. Today we are one of the world’s largest buyers and roaster of organic and Fairtrade coffee today.
Working with certifications means that an independent party controls the farm, that the produ
The coffee industry faces great challenges, and many coffee farmers are struggling every day to survive financially. It is threatening the livelihoods and makes fewer young people see a future as coffee farmers, which in the long run can decrease the access to coffee. We work in many ways in our own value chain, for example through supplier follow-ups, development projects and certifications. But
A fair growth on commercial terms, where fundamental human rights are respected, is a prerequisite for sustainable development, and to contribute to a more fair, performance-driven and transparent value chain is at core in our sustainability work. We aim to be a driving force when it comes to creating better possibilities for coffee farmers and their communities around the world.
The circular transformation must extend outside of our own business to make a real difference. We want to involve both coffee farmers and consumers, and everyone in between, on our journey ahead. But we do not have all the solutions yet, and we have to work innovatively both internally and externally to find them.
Sustainability has always been important for us at Löfbergs, ever since we started in 1906. It permeates our entire business and everything we do. We are proud of how far we have come in some areas, but there is still left to be done in others. Our aim towards continuous sustainability improvement characterises our whole culture.
Through purposeful efforts and large investments, Swedish-based Löfbergs has successfully reduced its climate impact with 90 per cent over the last three years. The results are presented in the sustainability report that the family-owned coffee roaster releases today.
As the first Swedish-based coffee roaster, Löfbergs Group joins the European Coffee Federation (ECF), an industry organisation with focus on food safety, sustainability and international trade.
"Era of We thus gives the coffee farmers a voice and enables them to differentiate themselves with independent brands. That way, they are also empowered to set the price of their products themselves. It fundamentally changes the rules of the game."
