Interest in Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee has been growing steadily. In the past three years, the amount of coffee purchased from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms has, on average, doubled, from an estimated 7 million pounds purchased in 2003 to an estimated 60 million pounds purchased in 2006.

Whole Foods Market, the natural foods superstore, has gone even greener thanks to a new partnership with the Rainforest Alliance. At the opening of the newest Whole Foods Market in March -- just blocks from Rainforest Alliance headquarters in New York City -- the retail chain launched its Whole Trade Guarantee, a program that requires farms to meet a set of criteria that ensure high quality, responsible environmental practices, more money for producers, and better wages and working conditions for farm workers. As part of the program, Whole Foods Markets throughout the United States and Canada are now stocking coffee, bananas and chocolate from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. The company hopes that within 10 years more than half of all the products it imports from developing countries will meet its new program's criteria.

"With our shoppers' growing concern about ethical and responsible trade, and with our company's increasing scale and scope, the time is right for Whole Foods Market to help make more of an impact," said Whole Foods Market's co-founder and CEO John Mackey. "We look forward to working with the Rainforest Alliance and our other certifying partners to support the global community by bringing products from developing areas to the marketplace is a way that is a win for the producers and their families, for our shoppers, for the environment, and for the developing world communities where we do business."

Travelers in the United States will be able to enjoy Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee at all 1,000 Holiday Inn hotels by June. The commitment from the World's Innkeeper means that at least 30 percent of the beans used to brew the more than 55,000 cups of coffee served at the hotels every day as part of its Best for Breakfast menu come from farms that have met rigorous environmental and social standards including biodiversity conservation, worker protection, healthcare and education for children of farm workers.

"As consumers continue to gain awareness about how they can make responsible choices, it's very important that we go beyond serving coffee with great quality, but also take into account how the coffee was produced," said Susan Morgan, vice president of Holiday Inn's Franchise Food & Beverage division. "Knowing that the coffee is both benefiting farm workers and protecting the environment and wildlife makes it taste that much better."

Royal Cup Coffee, the Alabama-based importer, roaster and distributor that is providing the blend to Holiday Inn, has been buying beans from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in Guatemala and Mexico since 2003. Royal Cup sells the coffee to customers including the national parks division of Delaware North Companies, Joe Muggs Coffee and Newsstand, and The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida.

For more than five decades, Tchibo -- the third largest coffee roaster in Germany -- has wooed customers with images from faraway lands, where the beans are grown. Tchibo earned a reputation for expertise in coffee from farm to market. The company philosophy is: "We take responsibility from bean to cup for the best coffee experience."

Now, Tchibo is taking that responsibility further, ensuring their loyal clientele that increasing amounts of their beans come from farms that meet the highest standards for sustainability. Visitors to any of Tchibo's 900 shops can already buy Rainforest Alliance Certified Schattenwald ("shade forest") Kaffee, and a delicious single-origin coffee in the specialty Raritat line called Honduras Escondida.

Soon, other Tchibo coffees in the mainstream Frische Ernte lines as well as the specialty Schatze de Natur offers will be certified. The famous purveyor of fine coffees has set an ambitious goal: by the end of 2008, fully six percent of the company's coffee will come from responsible sources, up from less than one percent now.

According to Cornel Kurtz, senior manager for corporate responsibility, "Tchibo has always thought of the well-being of the farmers. We know that their quality of life and their environment affects the quality of the coffee. Rainforest Alliance certification empowers farmers and protects their precious environment."

The certified coffees will come from farms in Brazil, Colombia and El Salvador in addition to Honduras. Tchibo will also trade some fairtrade certified blends and coffee from farms verified by the Common Code for the Coffee Community, a multi-stakeholder developed baseline standard designed to help farmers get started on the path toward sustainability.

In July, Harry Potter fans will finally discover whether their hero survives the evil machinations of Voldemort. While readers may be troubled by Harry's fate, they're sure to draw solace from the fact that 65 percent of the 16,700 tons of paper on which the J.K. Rowling tale is printed results from sustainable harvesting methods that protect people and the environment. That's because Scholastic Inc., the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, will use paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow, the seventh and final book in the series. The Rainforest Alliance is the world's leading FSC certifier and worked with Scholastic to develop its plan to buy FSC-certified paper. We will continue helping the company to develop a responsible paper purchasing policy, according to Liza Murphy, senior marketing manager for the Rainforest Alliance.

View our SmartGuide to Paper and Print Sources.

Meals at many of the world's biggest restaurant chain just got happier, thanks to the addition of Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee. Starting on January 10, 2007, all 1,200 McDonald's restaurants in the United Kingdom and Ireland began to sell exclusively Kenco coffee. The Kraft Foods Arabica beans used to brew more than 143,000 cups of coffee, cappuccino and latte sold every day in McDonald's restaurants in the United Kingdom and Ireland were harvested on Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in Colombia, Brazil and Central America. The new and growing market for their crops will directly benefit thousands of farmers and farm workers while protecting the environment. McDonald's has also signaled its intention to extend this commitment to serving certified sustainable coffee in its restaurants throughout Europe during 2007.

McDonald's move is the latest example of a recent trend toward sustainable certified products breaking out of specialty niches and into mass markets. Kraft, one of the world's largest coffee roasters, began buying Rainforest Alliance Certified beans in 2003 for use in its mainstream consumer coffee brands worldwide. It launched Kenco sustainable certified coffee in the United Kingdom in 2005, and subsequently introduced several other Rainforest Alliance Certified barns in Europe and North America, including its Yuban brand, now sold widely in supermarkets in the United States. The company has continually increased its commitment to sustainability over the past several years, buying about five million pounds of coffee from certified farms in 2004, increasing to about 14 million pounds in 2005 and to about 29 million pounds in 2006.

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The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior.

© 2007 Rainforest Alliance