Annual Benefit Corporation Report

Annual Benefit Corporation Report

Dear Green Coffee Roasters (Dear Green Ltd)

Established in 2011, Dear Green is a coffee roastery based in Glasgow, Scotland. Following our B Corp certification in 2020 we have formalised our company strategy to be defined simply by three pillars: Product, People and Planet. All three have had a constant thread throughout our 10 year business journey. We believe that by maintaining this focus and through sustainable business practices we can achieve a positive and lasting impact on our coffee product, on people in our local and international community and on the effects of climate change on our planet.

This report documents the business activities and actions which have advanced our contribution to being better in 2021.

A Year In review - 2021

We became one of the first certified B Corporations in Scotland right at the end of 2020; it was the main business highlight in what was a testing year for us! We measured our impact but we never stopped learning how we could implement more change to advance our benefit to our product, our people and our planet.

2021 saw a slow start for us with a local lockdown and many of our customers' doors closed. We supported our customer base whilst focussing our efforts on our online offering and on the value we could add to our product with minimum impact. As our world and customers began to open up again in late May we were extremely lucky to have COP26 to look forward to on our doorstep and were able to engage with an incredibly inspiring network of B Corps and with a like-minded community. All advocating for the change we need.

The year started with simple, yet achievable goals and ended with better results than we could have ever imagined. Here are our highlights:

Planet

• We registered for 1% for the Planet and look forward to contributing to projects in rural Scotland.
• We pledged to be Net Zero 2030 through the B Corp Climate Collective and measured our footprint with the help of fellow B Corp, Compare Your Footprint. We're currently preparing our plan for reduction of our emissions and we can't wait to share the results.
• We’re registered to support local forestry experts TreeStory, who are on a mission to re-wild the Scottish Highlands. An organisation we are keen to support regardless of our need to offset emissions.
• We won the Green Champion award at the Glasgow Business Awards.
• We were recognised by SEPA (Scottish Environmental Protection Agency) for 'Good Practice' in their VIBES Awards.
• Our team completed 'Green Champion' training, a free resource from Zero Waste Scotland.
• We sold 549 coffee sacks to be repurposed and donated the funds to Ethiopian charity, Girls Gotta Run Foundation.
• Our travel emissions were greatly reduced by our team arranging a car pool and by working from home where possible.
• We changed our waste collections to a local organisation who really care and who support us to reduce our waste. We now confidently recycle more items than ever before and our general waste is sent for incineration and converted to energy. Nothing goes to landfill. We have low carbon collections and retain our focus on reuse, repurpose, recycle and composting. And we receive a monthly carbon report! 

People

• We introduced even more perks for our team with renewed focus on well being, remuneration, profit share bonus and an increased allocation of Annual Leave.
• We continue to ask more questions about our coffee supply chain and work with suppliers who support transparency, traceability, sustainability and compliance. 
• We grew our team to 7, adding two new full time team members.
• We set out a plan to volunteer in our community more and worked 8 hours per week on a local farm, Locavore CIC.
• We are accredited Real Living Wage employers in Scotland. This year we were proudly accredited for Living Hours. Providing security for part-time and freelance staff. Meaning it's not just our full timers who are respected by being paid the RLW as a minimum but our full team benefit from basic courtesies of at least a four week notice period for shifts, a right to a contract which reflects accurate hours worked and a guaranteed minimum of 16 hours per week.
• We signed up to the Good Business Charter in support of doing business better.
• We joined the campaign for the Better Business Act showing our support for a fairer world for all.
• We updated our house blends to include a donation from every sale. We focussed on four causes: Homlessness, The Arts, Community Gardens and Emergency Appeals.
• We donated over £17000 to charitable organisations. We chose those which resonate with our team members and which support our industry and our local community. These were our 2021 beneficiaries:

1% for the Planet / Social Bite / Alzheimer Scotland  / Girls Gotta Run Foundation Refuweegee / Glasgow Foodbanks / Green Heart Growers / Wash House Garden / International Humane Society / Music Venue Trust / Glasgow Rape Crises (The Circle) / World Coffee Research / STV Appeal Afghan / Woman’s Appeal (The Circle) / Vaccine Aid |(UNICEF) / World Coffee Research

 

Product

• Having supported the World Coffee Research program for years, in 2021 we decided to register for their Checkoff Program. Ensuring that not only our donation counts but that our registered sourcing partners also make a financial contribution with every purchase of raw coffee we make, therefore investing in a sustainable future for coffee.
• We continue to revise our packaging and have succeeded in sourcing a coffee package which is not only manufactured in the UK but is fully recyclable by every local authority in the UK—that's if you don't choose to re-use it first! Our research in 2021 will lead to a launch of this new package and the reduction of our current degradable packaging.
• For local wholesale partners we've grown our use of reusable 5kg tubs, adopted by more hospitality outlets than we ever imagined. An increase of 405% on the previous year and saving thousands of single use packaging from landfill!
• As a certified organic roastery and a business that cares about biodiversity, one of our prime goals for the year was to increase our volume of organic coffee roasted. Challenges in our supply chain meant that we did not see the results we had hoped for but we did nevertheless see an increase of 166% on the previous year and from this we can only continue to build.
• RainForest Alliance certified coffee accounted for over 40% of our production.
• We continued our buying relationships with long term partners in Fazenda Pantano (Brazil), AMACA women's association (Colombia), Tumba Washing Station (Rwanda), Odaco and Bombe washing stations (Ethiopia) and Rama women's group (Burundi). Sustainable buying accounted for over 65% of our coffee purchases.
• Not only do we reuse in our roastery but we introduced a reusables range for our customers too. Encouraging change in consumer habits and less waste.

Our Onward Impact

We've always been obsessed with coffee quality and ethics. By becoming part of the supportive B Corp community we have progressed our social and environmental policies, plans and actions more than we thought possible in 2021.

We continue to source the best coffees we can find and we do this sustainably. We have learned about and implemented the UN sustainability goals into our working practices and are constantly educating ourselves about being a good egg in the world of business.

Importantly, in a stagnant year for all, we had our best year ever! Proving that doing good also has good results. Our base line is healthy and our investment in our future progress is secured. Affirming that in 2022 we can only be even better!

 

Here's what we have proudly achieved in one year of being part of the B Corporation community:

Read more about what we achieved in 2021 here. 

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