The Global Coffee Platform (GCP), a multi-stakeholder membership organization seeking to drive sustainability in the coffee industry, has named Adriana Mejía Cuartas chair of the board of directors.
The founder of The Netherlands-based sustainability firm Herencia and a longtime European representative of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), Mejía succeeds Carlos Brando in the GCP board chair position.
Brando, who has helped to lead the GCP’s board through the creation of a baseline sustainability reference code while increasing multi-stakeholder membership and funding, will continue to advise the group in the role of immediate past chair.
The appointment of Mejía, who represents the fourth generation of a coffee-growing family, comes as the GCP works towards its “GCP 2030 Goal” of “transformational change on the prosperity of more than one million farmers in more than 10 countries by 2030.”
Over the past six years, the GCP has released an annual report outlining purchasing patterns of several of its member organizations that also happen to be some of the world’s largest buyers of green coffee.
International Coffee Council Chair Massimiliano Fabian, ICO Executive Director Vanusia Nogueira, GCP Executive Director Annette Pensel and GCP Board Chair Carlos Brando were recently in India signing an MOU regarding multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs). 2023 GCP press release photo.
Despite evidence that large buyers are increasingly meeting baseline sustainability metrics in their purchasing, millions of the world’s approximately 12.5 million coffee farmers continue to live near or below poverty levels while struggling with issues such as climate change, price volatility, food insecurity and inequality of risk and power.
“As we embark on this journey together, my focus will be on further translating dialogue into decisive action,” Mejía said in an announcement from the GCP this week. “While communication and discourse are essential, the time for action at scale is now. This needs innovative approaches to collective action, co-responsibility and co-investments. We must empower coffee growers to embrace entrepreneurship, equipping them with the tools and resources needed to thrive in an ever-evolving landscape.”
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