Fairtrade Climate Pledge and Climate Network 

Ahead of COP26, 1.8 million Fairtrade farmers and workers wrote an open letter to world governments urging them to Be Fair with their Climate Promise, delivering on the $100 Billion climate finance promised and ensuring it reaches farmers and workers directly. Farmers also asked governments to strengthen business regulations ensuring businesses conduct environmental due diligence and take responsibility for environmental issues in their supply chains.  

Read the Fairtrade farmers’ open letter Be Fair with your Climate Promise

Committed Fairtrade business partners have joined forces with farmers and signed the Fairtrade Climate Pledge (below). By signing this pledge, businesses urge governments to listen to farmers’ voices but also commit to take responsibility for environmental challenges in their own supply chain.

As businesses sourcing from Fairtrade farmers, we see the climate crisis hitting the people in our supply chains disproportionately hard. Increasingly volatile and extreme weather is damaging crops and harming livelihoods in farming communities, making it harder to grow the goods our customers rely on.

This is an emergency. Unless we clamp down hard on global emissions and support farmers in low- and middle-income countries to build resilience, all of us will suffer, from farmers to consumers. As businesses, we urge world governments to listen to the voices of farmers and set ambitious, science-based rules and targets that do not allow businesses to ignore the damage they are causing to the planet, and which encourage responsible businesses to do more.

Business too must take a lead. We commit ourselves to take the following action in our international supply chains, and call on other businesses to do likewise.

1. We promise to pay fair prices to producers – farmers and workers should not have to choose between tackling poverty and building resilience to the climate crisis. Our Fairtrade commitments are critical to achieving this.
2. We promise to be long-term partners with farming communities, listening to the experience of farmers, sharing our expertise and investing in the urgent transitions farmers need. We back a shift in food production and supply, to one that is resilient to the changing climate, including backing nature-based solutions. We will support farmers as we work together to cut the emissions embedded throughout our supply chains.
3. We promise to ‘know and show’ our climate impact, by measuring carbon emissions embedded in our supply chains, assessing the climate risks faced at farm level, and publishing the results. We want to raise awareness about the challenges, the practical solutions, and the need for others to raise their game.
4. Finally, we promise to speak out, calling in public and private for governments to set and deliver ambitious targets for emissions reductions and climate finance that puts farmers and workers first.

Fairtrade is launching the Fairtrade Climate Network and inviting all partners that commit to the Fairtrade Climate Pledge to get involved and join the movement!

The Fairtrade Climate Network is a forum bringing together committed businesses to accelerate action to face the climate crisis and build sustainable supply chains in which farmers are supported to adapt to and mitigate climate change. Through quarterly forums, we will facilitate learning from farmers, sustainability experts, and industry peers, and connect and enable collaboration between businesses facing similar challenges to increase our collective impact.

By joining the Fairtrade Climate Network you will:

1. Hear directly from farmers in your supply chain the challenges and risks that climate change brings and how they can adapt to and mitigate them
2. Gain knowledge and access to resources on the climate impact of your Fairtrade commitment
3. Be better equipped to demonstrate and communicate your environmental impact to your business partners, investors and consumers
4. Learn from, network and connect with other like-minded businesses facing similar challenges to achieve common goals
5. Be affiliated with Fairtrade climate campaigns and gain visibility with Fairtrade supporters and other business partners as a climate-leading business
6. Have your say in Fairtrade’s climate work and campaigns
7. Identify opportunities and get early access to co-invest in climate programmes, increasing your impact and reducing costs

Come join our growing list of climate-leading businesses that have committed to the Fairtrade Climate Pledge and join our Climate Network!

If you would like to hear more about signing the Fairtrade Climate Pledge or becoming a member of the Fairtrade Climate Network, please email us at commercial@fairtrade.org.uk