GCP launched the RegenCoffee workstream together with members, partners, and experts from across the coffee value chain to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture in coffee. It aims at advancing the sustainability of coffee production leading to regenerative outcomes and enhancing farmer and supply resilience, starting with global alignment and followed by further global and local work.
The result is a common language for regenerative agriculture in coffee production, anchored in the Coffee Sustainability Reference Code. The GCP RegenCoffee Guidance provides the sector with a foundational guide containing the definition, objectives, principles and expected outcomes of regenerative agriculture for coffee.
Coffee under threat
Farmers are on the frontlines of climate and environmental change. The depletion of natural assets and the decline of soil health are threatening their livelihoods, reducing productivity, and undermining the resilience of the land they depend on.
For the coffee sector, global demand for coffee is projected to grow over the next two decades. Yet, coffee farmers, especially smallholders, are faced with persistent challenges – including lack of economic viability of farming, decreasing farm sizes, limited access to resources and markets, and lack of attractiveness for younger generations – now further exacerbated by climate change.
The long-term coffee production and supply resilience is at stake. The coffee industry must act now.
The opportunity: Regenerative Agriculture
Regenerative agriculture can make positive contributions to people and the planet by restoring ecosystem services and functions critical to coffee production. Importantly, regenerative agriculture is not a new concept.
Farmers around the world have long used sustainable practices and research shows that coffee production with a focus on regenerative outcomes has the potential for positive contributions to soil restoration, water conservation, and enhancing biodiversity.
While implementing some practices may incur significant upfront costs to finance the transition and may create uncertainty on production levels in the short run, long-term sustainability of the ecosystems is essential to safeguard productivity and profitability.
Regenerative agriculture for coffee offers significant potential to improve the resilience of farming systems and protect coffee farmers from the impact of climate change by adopting farming practices that use natural resources sustainably.
GCP RegenCoffee Guidance: A common language built on existing frameworks
RegenCoffee is a holistic, outcome-focused approach to sustainable coffee farming that emphasizes improving and restoring resources and services by nature (primarily soil, bio-diversity and water) to achieve improved profitability and resilience of coffee farming systems with benefits for farmers and ecosystems, thus ensuring long-term coffee supply.
The guidance offers a common language as a starting point for sector-wide collaboration needed for the transition to a regenerative coffee sector by:
- defining regenerative agriculture for coffee production
- establishing RegenCoffee’s objectives, definition, principles, outcomes with standardized Key Performance Indicators and examples of farmer centric practices linked to the regenerative outcomes
- building upon the Coffee Sustainability Reference Code and GCP Brazil’s regenerative coffee farming concept
- aligning with relevant existing frameworks, tools and initiatives including company programs.
RegenCoffee provides guidance, built on existing frameworks, for the coffee sector to:
- align pre-competitively for collective action and shared responsibility
- mitigate risks of greenwashing and prepare for future regulations
- align measurement and monitoring towards increased sustainable production and consumption of coffee.
Introducción a GCP RegenCoffee Una guía para la agricultura regenerativa en la producción de café
La Guía GCP RegenCoffee es un lenguaje común global para la agricultura regenerativa en la producción de café a nivel mundial.
GCP inició el trabajo en RegenCoffee junto con miembros, socios y expertos de toda la cadena de valor del café, para acelerar la transición a la agricultura regenerativa en el sector.
RegenCoffee es un enfoque holístico y centrado en resultados para el cultivo sostenible del café, que enfatiza la mejora y restauración de recursos y servicios de la naturaleza (suelo, biodiversidad y agua) para una mayor rentabilidad y resiliencia de los sistemas de cultivo, con beneficios para los agricultores y ecosistemas, asegurando un suministro de café a largo plazo.
The RegenCoffee Workstream
GCP RegenCoffee Workstream aims at advancing the sustainability of coffee production leading to regenerative outcomes and enhancing farmer and supply resilience, through a four-phased approach. Phase 1 consisted of a process of global alignment on regenerative agriculture for coffee and will be followed by further global and local work.
The result of the first phase of this workstream is the GCP RegenCoffee Guidance, which serves as a common language and foundational guide for the coffee sector, building on the Coffee Sustainability Reference Code.
The guidance was built on existing sustainability frameworks and, aiming that it would reflect the realities and needs of diverse coffee stakeholders, opened for a global public consultation between 19 March and 15 April 2025. The consultation process drew broad participation from the member community and beyond, including academia, donors, and investors.
Phase 1 was guided by GCP’s Technical Committee, responsible for developing the guidance document; the RegenCoffee Advisory Task Force, which provides expert input and advice; and included contributions from GCP Members and participants from around the globe, who supported with their perspective from across the supply chain through the consultation process.
The GCP Secretariat facilitated the work with the support of Aimee Rusillo, external consultant from Liseed Consulting.
GCP Technical Committee
| Member | Organization |
|---|---|
| Jeremy Lefroy | Café Africa (Chair) |
| Dr. Álvaro Gaitan | Cenicafé |
| Cesar Candiano | Research |
| Anneke Fermont | Volcafé |
| Karugu Wa Macharia | Kenya Coffee Platform (KCP) |
| Kedar Nepal | 4C Services |
| Miguel Gamboa | Rainforest Alliance |
RegenCoffee Advisory Task Force
| Member | Organization |
|---|---|
| Mirjam Pulleman/Eric Rahn | Alliance Biodiversity – CIAT |
| Anne Grigg | Conservation International |
| Eduardo Sampaio | GCP Brazil |
| Francesca Pellis | illy |
| Hugo Stuurman | JDE Peet’s |
| Allie Stauss | Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) |
| Stefan Canz | Nestlé |
| Felix Stiegler | Neumann Kaffee Gruppe NKG |
| Piet van Asten | ofi |
| Franco Constantini | RegenAgri |
The GCP RegenCoffee Guidance was introduced at the GCP Member Assembly on 24-25 June 2025 in Basel, Switzerland.
Process overview
Watch this video for an overview of the RegenCoffee workstream and public consultation.
This overview covers the following aspects:
- Background and rationale of GCP’s RegenCoffee workstrem
- GCP RegenCoffee Consultation Draft Process
- RegenCoffee Framework and scope content
- Opportunities to provide input and feedback
Documents of the
RegenCoffee Workstream
Phase 1
GCP thanks the following organizations for supporting this work
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