GCP welcomes Mercon to the membership community! In this Meeting Members feature, GCP learns more about the company’s sustainability goals from Mercon’s Sustainability Director, Giacomo Celi, and we find out how the new member is working with and through GCP to achieve these.
Mercon Coffee Group is a global, green coffee supplier that is vertically integrated and committed to consistently delivering the right quality of coffee to clients while creating sustainable livelihoods in coffee-growing communities. Founded in 1952 as a coffee export company, Mercon is headquartered in the Netherlands and ranks among the top 10 leading coffee suppliers in the world, delivering tailored services to its clients in more than 60 countries from its offices located across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Mercon is a champion of sustainability and drives a number of initiatives, including its proprietary LIFT platform which is focused on delivering services to increase innovation and prosperity for coffee communities around the world. Mercon has built an integrated coffee supply chain recognized for its excellence in commercial and specialty coffees as well as its operations across farming, production, export, logistics, sustainability, and risk management.
Mercon’s main purpose is to build a better coffee world. But how do we want to achieve this? Mainly through sustainability. LIFT, our sustainable production platform, was created to assist coffee farmers while improving their livelihoods in an environmentally and socially conscious manner. By working hand in hand with them, we protect the environment and its natural resources so we may continue to enjoy one of the world’s most sought-after commodities. Through this platform, we lift production, quality, the protection of environmental resources, and the social wellbeing of coffee communities around the world. The impact of our efforts ultimately leads to the sustained supply of coffee, globally, for generations. Through LIFT, we’re also able to partner with producers around the globe to develop successful, sustainable farming businesses, all while providing the right quality coffee to our clients. In the long run, we also target carbon neutrality for our own coffee operations by 2030.
“GCP provides LIFT with the recognition the industry requires to increase investments in sustainable sourcing. This recognition strengthens Mercon’s commitment to long-term sustainability and LIFT partnerships with key stakeholders. Consequently, we’ll grow and forge new alliances to build a better coffee world, thus improving the well-being of coffee communities worldwide.”
Giacomo Celi, Sustainability Director at Mercon
We value the Coffee Sustainability Reference Code and GCP Equivalence Mechanism as well as the Collective Action Initiatives in our coffee origin countries. At the moment, The Global Coffee Platform (GCP) has recognized our Mercon sustainability scheme as equivalent to the GCP “Coffee Sustainability Reference Code”, 2nd party assurance. GCP’s recognition is a true example of how together, as One Group, One Team, we work towards promoting sustainability in the entire coffee supply chain – based on our three sustainability pillars: people, planet, and prosperity. Through these partnerships, we want to continue building a circle of prosperity for all.
This contribution forms part of a series called Meeting Members.
The words and images have been provided by Mercon Coffee Group.
