As a certified B Corp since 2013, Reunion Coffee Roasters’ mission and values are founded on making specialty coffee sustainable and accessible to everyone. For our producing partners, this means sourcing certified products, including Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Organic. For our wider international community, we fund the planting of trees, regenerative agriculture, and women’s healthcare. For our local community, we work to minimize our waste production and donate to local organizations.

What sustainability initiatives are you most proud of, and how have they impacted your operations?

As we work towards a Carbon Net Zero strategy, in early 2024 we began a year-long process with the Ministry of Environment and Enviro-Stewards, an environmental consultant, to study our operations and better understand whether there was a more appropriate temperature to run our thermal oxidizers at for our specific operations and facility.

Findings showed that operating at a lower temperature was in fact effective in destroying the necessary volatile organic compounds generated in the roasting process, without negative consequences. In demonstrating these findings in the Environmental Activity and Sector Registry, Reunion Coffee Roasters was authorized by the Province of Ontario to adjust its operations accordingly. Reunion Coffee Roasters now consumes far less natural gas and, in turn, emits lower emissions per kg of beans roasted. Lower operating costs mean greater capacity to support our producing partners, and reduced emissions mean lower overall environmental impact affecting our local and global communities.

CAC Members can view the full white paper in the Member Portal.

Can you share a story about a farmer or community your company supports that has inspired you?

For over 20 years, Reunion has partnered with coffee growing communities in Colombia through our Las Hermosas program to support infrastructure and community development. From washing stations to computer and cupping labs, to childcare centers, to the protection of local water table– sales of Reunion’s Colombia Las Hermosas have supported communities’ unique needs. Most recently, financial support has gone to a youth coffee education program. A group of young people are learning how best to build their coffee business so that they may support themselves, their families, and their community long term.

While there are many ways to support our coffee producing partners and their communities, Reunion is particularly passionate about the producer-lead nature of the Las Hermosas program. It does not serve our partners effectually if Reunion dictates how our financial support is to be used, so our preference is to listen to the needs and meet them as best we can. It is, therefore, natural that the producers guide how the Las Hermosas’ financial support is best utilized. We can all learn from the example they set. For instance, in 2018, the community chose to fund the protection of a water way to ensure a safe and sustainable source of water for not only themselves but also for other communities downstream, rather than simply taking the funds as a second payment for themselves, individually.

What challenges or opportunities do you see for Canada to lead in sustainable coffee production and consumption?

As the unpredictability of coffee prices stretches on, consumers are becoming increasingly hesitant to invest in sustainability programs and practices at the farm level through certified coffee schemes. The additional cost for certified coffee can be increasingly difficult for consumers to justify when their entire shopping basket is costing more. As Reunion Coffee Roasters’ sees it, volatile coffee prices will continue to be a challenge to the sustainability efforts of the industry. For this reason, coffee roasters must find new, unique and cost-effective opportunities to operate more sustainably. By investigating a way to lower our afterburner temperature, we have done exactly that, and others can too.