My personal journey with Peace Coffee began out of a simple love for coffee, but it quickly evolved into a deeper understanding of the industry’s complexities and the importance of ethical practices. Working here has opened my eyes to how unfairly coffee farmers can be treated, and that realization has profoundly changed my relationship with coffee.
This awareness drives my commitment to sustainability and fair trade, recognizing that our choices today will have lasting effects on all life on Earth.
Working at Peace Coffee has shown me how important it is to “vote with my dollar” and support organizations creating sustainable and equitable products. Yet, when I go to the store, I see numerous confusing, misleading product labels boasting they are “green” as a marketing tactic. Their labels don’t require their business to commit to sustainable practices.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself the next time you are at the grocery store trying to buy sustainable:
1. Is it “Fair Trade” and “Organic” certified?
When you are in the grocery store aisle, check to see if the product is “certified organic and fair trade.” To be organically certified, coffee farmers must use natural, chemical-free processes to grow and harvest coffee beans while adhering to defined standards and practices. Similarly, fair trade coffee farms must be democratically organized and abide by international guidelines to ensure the premiums earned through this certification are distributed fairly and used to benefit whatever the farmers have collectively voted on.
Peace Coffee was founded by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) in 1996 with the primary goal of creating a proof-of-concept that it was possible to import and sell organic, fair-trade coffee in a way that benefited small-scale farmers rather than exploiting them—and it worked! Almost 30 years later, we’re still paying fair trade and organic premiums to our producer partners and ensuring they earn fair pay for their work. When browsing, watch for 100% organic and fair trade; rigorous standards are required to achieve that label.
2. Is it sustainable locally?
Local climate action is critical. This is especially true for our food! Sometimes, with products like coffee, it’s hard for a product to be 100% local. It’s important to buy local food if you can, and where that isn’t possible, it’s essential to see how an organization prioritizes sustainable practices at the local distribution level. For example, our local community means a lot to us, and we show that love in a few different ways. Our roastery is centrally located in the city, allowing us to deliver 50% of our coffee locally via bike all year— something we’ve been doing since day one! From composting to offering our burlap bags for gardening projects and so much more, we take our responsibility to the environment seriously, starting in our local community. If you are considering buying a product regularly, review their website to see how that business is taking action locally. Are they doing something concrete for the community? Do their values align with yours?
3. Is it B Corporation status?
What is a B Corporation Status? It’s a very high standard to achieve, and if you see this on a product, you know the food you are eating meets rigorous standards for both environmental and social good.
Peace Coffee is a certified B Corporation, meaning standards outlined by B Labs on social and environmental impact are met throughout our supply chain. The bar continues to be raised, so we’re incentivized to improve and continue pushing ourselves. Businesses that wish to achieve certification are scored on several key areas that reflect social and environmental impact. Things like transparency in operations, the wages and job security of the employees, involvement in charity work, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and even the quality of the product or service are all scored based on specific metrics and standards and to be certified your business must meet a minimum score threshold. Our current score is 118.7, 18.2 points more than our first score. The core of this process is transparency, so we welcome you to read a detailed breakdown of our score on the B Labs website.
These three questions will hopefully help you buy products that are truly sustainable and equitable. Coffee is a product that can be hard to fully know if the product you are buying is actually “green.” That’s why I love Peace Coffee. From our organic-only offerings since the beginning and our centrally located roastery making for convenient van and bike deliveries, to our reinvestments in our farming communities, meeting the rigorous standard set by B Lab, and so much more, we really mean it when we say we’re “In It For Good.” At Peace Coffee, we strive to lead by example in sustainable and ethical business practices. Join us on our journey and check out our website to learn more about our commitment to sustainability. Remember that protecting Earth is a team effort—we’re all in this together!
Amir Adan is Peace Coffee’s Social Media Specialist. As a Zoomer raised on the internet, he enjoys making fun content at work and for his personal social media pages. When he’s not at work, you can find him zipping around the Twin Cities on his e-bike, playing with his kitten, or cheering on our local pro-soccer team, Minnesota United FC.
The post Three questions to ask yourself buying groceries appeared first on Climate Generation.
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Climate Change
DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Bonn talks close
‘SIDE-STEPPING AND STALLING’: UN climate talks in Bonn have ended in “gridlock”, according to Climate Home News. The outlet reported on the failure to balance developing countries’ need for climate-adaptation finance with “richer nations’ desire to move forward” on emissions cuts. It added that both topics were subject to “rule 16”, meaning no agreement could be reached and work will be pushed to the COP31 summit in Turkey. Inside Climate News quoted UN climate executive secretary Simon Stiell, who said the talks had seen “side-stepping and stalling”.
JUST TRANSITION: One “glimmer of hope” came from negotiations on achieving a “just transition”, reported Euronews. The news outlet said negotiators “made headway on operationalising the Belém-Antalya mechanism”, intended to support people in the shift to a low-carbon economy. However, Politico concluded that much of the focus in Bonn had “shift[ed] to efforts outside diplomatic talks – raising questions about the future of global climate negotiations”.
‘ATTACKING SCIENCE’: Agence France-Presse reported on the EU, Switzerland and “dozens of developing nations” warning of “attacks on science” by a “small group of fossil-fuels interests” in Bonn. Table Briefings explained that “the 1.5C target is increasingly being challenged” and the role of the UN climate-science panel – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – in an upcoming assessment of global climate progress “remains controversial”. See Carbon Brief’s full write-up of the talks for more detail.
US-Iran deal
PRICE DROP: The US and Iran announced that they have reached an interim agreement to halt the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz, reported Bloomberg. Oil prices have fallen, as the “long-awaited deal” began the process of “eas[ing]” the global energy crisis triggered by the conflict, according to the New York Times. The Associated Press noted that high fuel prices will “likely outlast the Iran war”.
‘OIL GLUT’: The Financial Times reported that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast a “glut of oil” emerging next year, if the peace deal holds. The IEA said this would allow countries to build new strategic reserves, as they “review their energy strategies and policies in response to the crisis”, according to Reuters.
‘NEW ERA’: Agence France-Presse reported that oil and gas companies have “few illusions about a return to normal for the Gulf energy industry after more than three months of blockage”. One analyst told the newswire that the war “showed the oil and gas industry that Hormuz risk is no longer just a geopolitical headline”.
Around the world
- OCEAN MONITOR: The Trump administration is “abandoning its plan” to dismantle a $368m ocean monitoring system key for tracking climate change after a “bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill”, reported the New York Times.
- CORAL HAVEN: The New York Times covered preliminary research, presented at the Our Ocean Conference in Kenya, suggesting there could be three times as many “coral refugia” – where corals are relatively safe from climate change – than previously thought.
- BAD CREDIT: Down to Earth reported that the first carbon credits issued under the Paris Agreement’s new Article 6.4 mechanism are “facing scrutiny over alleged links to institutions controlled by Myanmar’s military junta”.
- OIL BACKTRACK: Reuters reported that oil-and-gas company Equinor has dropped a renewable-energy target and scaled back clean investments, while another Reuters story noted that Shell is selling off its offshore wind assets.
1.1 billion
The number of children facing “at least three overlapping climate hazards”, according to a new Unicef report covered by Agence France-Presse.
Latest climate research
- Including the “permafrost carbon-climate feedback” in climate models increases the chance of exceeding “tipping elements” – such as the Greenland ice sheets, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or Amazon rainforest – by up to 50% | Environmental Research Letters
- The intensity of influenza outbreaks could decline in temperate regions, but increase in tropical areas over the next century, as the climate warms | PNAS Nexus
- European snow cover has declined by 20% for December and January since the start of the industrial era, revealing an “unprecedented ongoing shrinkage of European winters” | Communications Earth & Environment
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
The more than 2m battery electric vehicles (BEVs), 1m “plug-in” hybrids (PHEVs) and 100,000 electric vans on UK roads are already saving drivers a total of around £3bn a year, according to new Carbon Brief analysis. This amounts to savings of more than £1,100 a year in fuel costs for each BEV driver in the UK. The analysis comes amid reports in UK media this week that the government is considering “watering down” its EV sales targets.
Spotlight
Oceans rising at UN climate talks
The state of the world’s oceans is inextricably linked to the changing climate – and many delegates at UN climate talks want to see more focus on this issue, reports Carbon Brief.
Oceans are often described as the world’s “greatest ally” against climate change – absorbing 30% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and most of the heat generated by those emissions.
They are also the site of important climate solutions, such as huge offshore windfarms and the shipping industry’s transition to cleaner fuels.
At the same time, the oceans themselves present a growing danger to coastal communities and sea life due to sea level rise, marine heatwaves and ocean acidification.
These diverse issues have led to growing calls within the UN climate process for more focus on oceans. During climate negotiations this week in Bonn – known as SB64 – nations and civil society had a chance to air these views during an “ocean and climate change dialogue”.
‘Elevate action’
Oceans first entered UN climate outcomes in 2019, when the final COP25 negotiated text requested a new “dialogue” on “the ocean and climate change to consider how to strengthen mitigation and adaptation action”.
The following years saw this dialogue established as an annual event. However, the political weight of these discussions has been limited.
COP31 is being co-led by Turkey and Australia, but with Pacific islands playing a supporting role. These small islands sometimes self-identify as “large ocean states”, stressing the ocean’s centrality in their societies.
In Bonn, figures from across the presidency threw their weight behind this issue. Chris Bowen, an Australian minister and incoming COP31 “president of negotiations”, told attendees:
“Australia, Turkey and the Pacific see an important opportunity to elevate ocean-based climate action.”
Strategies and finance
The two-day dialogue in Bonn involved a series of panels, statements and breakout groups.
One of the main topics was how oceans are integrated into national climate plans under the Paris Agreement, known as “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs).
Three-quarters of the latest round of NDCs mention oceans, with conservation of “blue carbon” ecosystems the most frequently described action. (Landscapes such as mangroves can both absorb CO2 and protect coastal areas.)
Delegates also discussed alignment with the UN biodiversity process, as well as ocean finance, which currently makes up less than 1% of all climate finance.
(As discussions were taking place in Bonn, country officials also gathered in Mombasa, Kenya for the 11th Our Ocean Conference. Carbon Brief’s associate editor Giuliana Viglione attended the conference and will publish a full summary shortly.)
Developing countries were clear that many of the ocean-related actions in their NDCs would depend on receiving more financial support.
‘Political momentum’
With the backing of the COP31 presidency, delegates were hopeful about where this year’s dialogue could lead.
Charles Hamilton, an advisor for the Bahamas who spoke for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in the dialogue, told Carbon Brief that island representatives “are not traveling thousands of miles to just talk and pat ourselves on the back”. He added:
“A dialogue that just remains a dialogue is just more talk – no action.”
Given that, he said “discussions in the dialogue must move into COP decisions and the decisions must be actioned”, noting the importance of finance.
Marina Corrêa, oceans lead at WWF-Brazil, pointed to an upcoming UN climate change Standing Committee on Finance forum as a space to ramp up pressure on ocean finance.
More broadly, she wanted to see the presidencies translate their support into a “leader-level ocean initiative” that could “mainstream” oceans across negotiations.
“We have a really interesting opportunity, in terms of political momentum,” Corrêa told Carbon Brief.
Watch, read, listen
‘HOTTER THAN HELL’: An episode of the BBC’s Rare Earth podcast titled “hotter than hell” considered the issue of extreme heat, with input from experts and “people facing up to the hottest temperatures on the planet”.
NOT BROKEN?: John Drake, a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia, wrote an essay for Aeon – also re-published as a Guardian “long read” – questioning the framing of ecosystems and climate systems “breaking down”.
ON COURSE: On his Volts podcast, US climate journalist David Roberts interviewed UK climate minister Katie White, quizzing her about whether the UK will “stay the course with its climate plans”.
Coming up
- 20-28 June: London climate action week
- 21 June: Colombia presidential runoff
- 24 June: UK Climate Change Committee progress in reducing emissions 2026 report to parliament
Pick of the jobs
- Mongabay, managing editor – Africa | Salary: Unknown. Location: Global
- Contexte, environment reporter – Brussels | Salary: €45,000-€60,000. Location: Brussels
- Climate 200, communications director | Salary: Unknown. Location: Australia
- Energy Tracker Asia, energy transition correspondent | Salary: $3,000-$4,000 per month. Location: South-east Asia (remote)
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations appeared first on Carbon Brief.
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