Starbucks Coffee is one of the largest coffee companies in the world and has over 14,000 stores

just in the United States. By virtue of being such a large company, the actions of Starbucks have
an effect on the environment and community that support them. Starbucks management focuses
on several core values including having environmentally friendly and greener cups.
During Starbuck’s 30 year history the company has had an emphasis on taking care of the
environment and being as “green” as possible. Starbucks has taken an initiative and has led the
charge among coffee shops on how to source your product ethically, use “greener power”, and
eliminate harmful wastes from their cups. As of 2016, Starbucks had constructed “more than 1,200
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified stores in 20 countries” and
account for nearly 20% of all LEED-certified stores globally. Starbucks also has plans to open
10,000 LEED-certified stores by 2025, compared to Dunkin Donuts who only had 100 LEED-
certified stores by 2016 (Sustainability Disclosure Database). A big part of having an
environmentally sustainable store is to serve your products in a sustainable material.

Figure 1
Another area that Starbucks excels in compared to their competition is in utilizing more
environmentally friendly cups. According to Starbucks own Social Impact Performance Report,
Starbucks was the first major coffee company to offer a discount to customers who bring a reusable
cup, a practice that is widely used in coffee shops nowadays. Starbucks uses at least 10% post-
consumer fiber in their hot cups and has a goal to double the percentage of recycled material used
in hot cups and find an alternative to plastic for cold cups by 2022. Starbucks utilized paper cups,
which are made from a renewable resource and are more easily recyclable and decomposable (see
figure 1) than cups made from Styrofoam. When compared to Dunkin Donuts, who still use
polystyrene foam and contribute to the 25 billion foam cups used annually (which even Dunkin
admits is harmful to the environment), it is safe to say that Starbucks is one of the leaders in using
greener cups (Earth Day Network).

Figure 2
Starbucks being a leader in the industry does not mean that they are perfect, though. While the
company does primarily serve hot drinks in more sustainable paper cups, Starbucks also sells
millions of cold drinks served in plastic cups that are not as environmentally friendly. In the UK
alone over 3 billion cups are discarded into landfills, which will take hundreds (potentially
thousands) of years to decompose (see figure 2). While it would be unreasonable to believe that
every customer should buy and use a reusable cup, I think it would be smart for Starbucks to
heavily encourage customers to use their own reusable cup. This can be achieved in three steps in
my opinion. The first step is to massively spread awareness of the effects of plastic cups on the
environment and the time it takes for them to decompose, similar to how Starbucks did on National
Coffee Day in 2017 (Giattino). This step would make consumers aware of how they personally
are effecting the environment, essentially eliminating their indirect blindness. The second step
would be to offer a larger discount to customers that bring their own cups. While Starbucks does
currently offer a discount, 10 cents, I feel that is not big enough of an incentive to encourage
consumers to lug around their own cup all day. And lastly, it would be in Starbucks best interest
to offer a free or steeply discounted reusable cup to their most loyal customers. Through their app,
Starbucks has data on their customers and should know what group are using the most plastic
(Marr). By offering a free or discounted reusable cup, Starbucks would be able to cut back on their
waste while also showing appreciation to their most loyal customers and build brand loyalty.

CSR activity undertaken by Starbucks in India

Starbucks is enabling locals to maximise rainwater storage, skilling graduates to enhance their
employability and helping the most vulnerable sections of society embrace sustainable practices.
They liaise with many innovation partners, government agencies and members of the civil society
who provide their experience and knowledge to serve communities. It seek to dissolve the barriers
of institutional solutions and adopt approaches that address grassroot problems and can be
replicated on a wider scale. They also support the Coorg Foundation, an independent, social wing
that is dedicated to promoting the welfare of the local community of Kodagu. The Foundation
oversees Swastha, an institution for differently-abled children, helping them with vocational
training. The students learn informal skills such as making envelopes, files, greeting cards, screen-
printing and tailoring. We succeeded in rehabilitating more than 150 children. Starbucks also train
children for Special Olympics and conduct sports meets for them every year.

Restoring hydrological balance of water-starved lakes

Starbucks identified overexploitation of groundwater in two lakes in Coorg and Hassan. The water
levels in both open wells and bore wells in the regions had been falling drastically, leading to a
severe water crisis. The households in the area were seeing an acute scarcity of drinking water.
Further, the areas received scanty rainfall. They intervened to provide a holistic integrated solution
(‘lake-in-lake’ model) to utilise the run-off collected in the lakes and replenish the underground
water reserve, as opposed to a conventional de-silting approach. This involved excavating
harvesting ponds by constructing recharge shafts, extra collection tanks, storm water drains and
embankments, and restoring the feeder channels to harness a higher volume of run-off from the
catchment areas to the lakes. They rejuvenated the regions' natural hydrological balance, arresting
run-off at various points and replenishing water at the surface, subsoil, deep soil and ground levels.
Starbucks India also leveraged the support of the local district administration, empowering local
communities and actively spreading water literacy. In the last three years, we have directly
impacted more than 10,000 people in the local communities by providing them regular access to
potable water. Going forward, we will extend our interventions to other such lakes in distress.
Work is already underway in another lake in Coorg and a lake in Chikmagalur.

Managing post-disaster recovery

In August 2018, Kodagu, Karnataka, witnessed devastating landslides and floods on account of
heavy rains and a minor earthquake. Twenty deaths were reported in the community and over
4,500 families displaced. Our quick response prevented any loss of life in the estates. We grappled
with a host of issues that included damage to houses, schools, anganwadis, trees, roads and
electricity poles. Our teams in the estate cleared blocked roadways; provided firewood, diesel and
water to those displaced; and relocated them to camps when needed. We worked with Swastha to
operate a community kitchen and distributed relief supplies such as bedsheets, bath towels,
blankets, woollen caps, clothing and food. We raised funds to assist in the rehabilitation of school
children. Our Chief Medical Officer at the Rural India Health Project Hospital, the medical centre
at Ammathi, near Kodagu, visited the relief camps and offered aid and advice. Our employees too
volunteered their time and resources with Tata Sustainability Group, to help with purchasing,
packing and warehousing of relief supplies.

‘Let’s Go’
At Tata Coffee, volunteering is one of the key mechanisms chosen to channelise our most valuable
assets, our people, towards societal good. Our people participate in Tata Volunteering Week
(TVW), a recurring campaign that is facilitated by Tata Sustainability Group to encourage Tata
employees, family members and retired colleagues to take small steps that help bring about a
change in society. Tata Coffee is one of the top 5 volunteering organisations within the Tata group.
The theme of the 11th edition of TVW was ‘Let’s Go’, wherein our people continued to engage
with the locals residing near our estates in Theni, Toopran, Valparai, Hassan and Coorg and
conducted a wide variety of projects, such as health camps, upskilling sessions, infrastructure
development initiatives, clean-up drives, hygiene awareness campaigns and so on. Volunteers
worked on building Bengaluru’s first organic community garden around Lake Jakkur. They
focused on planting and sowing primarily native, perennial vegetables and greens. They used
excess biomass (water hyacinth that is otherwise treated as a nuisance ‘Let’s Go’ and waste
product, or dry reeds that are otherwise left to decompose on the banks) to build soil and as a model
 way of creating a closed loop system within an urban context, since all the material was sourced
from the lake itself. The garden now provides sustenance to the fishing community and is managed
by local women-led Self-Help Groups.

CHAI Project
Starbucks is proud to continue our work with the Community, Health and Advancement
Initiative (CHAI)—a collaboration between the Starbucks Foundation, Tazo® Tea, Mercy Corps,
Indian tea companies and origin communities in India and Guatemala.

In India, Starbucks has contributed to tea growing communities for many years. Since 2003,
Starbucks has collaborated with Mercy Corps on the CHAI Project in Darjeeling and Assam to
help improve the quality of life for 190 tea and botanical communities in a sustainable way. To
date, Starbucks and our tea suppliers have contributed US$2.6 million to these efforts, and have
directly impacted more than 12,000 villagers with health services and economic development
assistance.

Today, CHAI is helping people in origin communities to:

 Improve access to water and sanitation

 Help young people succeed in school and become leaders in their communities

 Learn the skills to get a job or start a business

 Community Needs
 More than 60% of Indian tea comes from Northeast India and Darjeeling where
approximately 3 million people work on tea estates. Most are daily wage laborers. Each
household is generally allotted permanent worker status for one – sometimes two –
family members. Mandatory benefits include living quarters, rations of wheat, rice, and
firewood, a toilet, and drinking water facilities. However, the industry has not been able
to meet these requirements for all residents on tea estates, and the weak economy beyond
the estates severely limits employment options.

 CHAI is the only organization working with tea estates in Northern Indian, which are
normally autonomous entities with little or no government or NGO presence. Starbucks
and Tazo’s strong relationships with local tea growers have helped the project gain access
to tea estates, demonstrating a long-term commitment to the communities we are working
with, building the estate managers’ trust, and proving results to all of our stakeholders. In
Assam, oiver 30% of Assam’s population of 30 million lives under the poverty level. The
high drop-out rates in local sc

Results to Date
Overall: More than 75,000 people and their families have been directly impacted by CHAI.
Water, Sanitation and Health
In Darjeeling, annual incidents of waterborne diseases dropped by 50% in CHAI project
communities.

Significant accomplishments include 1,250 latrines constructed and 26 clean water infrastructure
projects completed. 2,000 children reached with hygiene education in schools.

Youth Empowerment
In Assam, 54 youth groups formed with 6,000 youth engaged in projects. The high school
dropout rate in Assam is 60%. However, 91% of participants in CHAI Education Retention
program continue to higher education. The program also awarded 297 scholarships.

Economic Opportunity
Key results include 65% of youth in the CHAI vocational training program found
employment. 2,100 women participated in savings groups, and program supported 1,500 micro-
entrepreneurs.

Partnerships & Sustainability

In all CHAI Project areas, communities contribute a significant percentage of the cost of their
local infrastructure projects, generally including volunteer labor and construction materials that
are available locally. Mercy Corps augments these efforts with technical expertise, and more
specialized tools and equipment when necessary. On average, communities contribute
approximately half of the value of infrastructure projects. In some case, tea estate management
and local government have also begun to contribute to these projects.

Swastha
Following our history and tradition of supporting coffee and tea communities, we will be
supporting the expansion of Swastha, a centre for special education and rehabilitation.

Starbucks and Tata share common values of responsible business ethics and a commitment to
community. Tata Coffee Limited has been working to improve the lives of coffee growing
communities in the State of Karnataka. Through an initial financial commitment, Starbucks will
work with Tata to support the expansion of 'Swastha,' a school for children with special needs (in
partnership with the Coorg Foundation) and aim to increase its capacity and outreach into the
rural communities in the coffee growing region of Karnataka.

he Coorg Foundation, established by Tata Coffee in 1994, has become synonymous with bringing
about economic, ecological, environmental and social change in Coorg (a scenic district in the
south-western part of Karnataka). A separate and independent social wing of Tata Coffee, the
'Coorg Foundation', has for an objective the promotion of the welfare of the local community of
Coorg. It has made a tremendous impact on the lives of many people who live in the verdant hills
of Kodagu which also known as ‘The Scotland of India’.

History

Whether it is education, medical or causes related to rural development, the Tata Group leaves a
legacy of being totally involved in many welfare activities. In keeping with the tradition of
affirmative action, The Coorg Foundation was established in the year 1994 with the vision of the
late Mr. Darbari Seth, Chairman of Tata Coffee. To quote him, “Tu shaneen hai parwaj hai kaam
tera. Tere saamne asmaan aur bhi hain". (You're like the eagle, destined to fly higher and higher.
The wide-open sky beckons you to conquer more).

Towards this end, the Foundation plays an active role in five distinct areas: Healthcare, Sports,
Education, Environment and Culture.

VISION & MISSION

Vision

To promote and secure the upliftment, well being and welfare of the people of Coorg.

Mission

To support the people of Coorg through Health Care, Education, Sports, Culture and Environment.