The coffee sector in Ethiopia is threatened by deforestation and the progress of climate change. Coffee bushes are extremely sensitive to rising temperatures, so if the earth’s temperature continues to rise, it would have devastating consequences for smallholders worldwide. An increase of as little as one-degree results in a clear loss of the quality of the coffee beans. A two-degree increase would result in a significant loss of productivity.

Oromia Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Union / OCFCU is the Ethiopian partner which is part of the Fairtrade Carbon Partnership (FCP). In this project, 40,000 efficient stoves are distributed to families, which reduces wood consumption and thus carbon dioxide emissions by 40%. The goal is to distribute stoves to 20,000 households.

Each household uses two different types of stove, one for general use and one for baking Injera, which is a round flat bread. The coffee farmers pay for the stove partly in cash and partly with the CO₂ credits that the use of the stoves generates. When the need for firewood is not as great, it means that less time needs to be spent on collecting new ones. This means that women and children, who are the ones who most often collect firewood, have time to do other things.

As with Fairtrade-certified raw materials, there is a minimum price for the credits in order for the projects to be financially sustainable for the project participants. In addition to the minimum price, the credits also generate an extra Fairtrade premium, which is used for investments that reduce the climate impact of producers and the local community.

The Fairtrade-labeled emission credits were launched internationally in 2015 and are regulated by Fairtrade’s climate criteria. The climate compensation has been developed together with Gold Standard, which is one of the leading organizations in emission credits and sustainable development.

ZeroMission is the first distributor of Fairtrade-labeled emission credits in Sweden and thus complements its broad offering of climate compensation with a focus on social development. By purchasing Fairtrade-certified emission credits, customers also undertake to draw up a plan to reduce their own emissions, a requirement that no other standard sets today.