What It Means to Be Fair For Life Certified

With so many certifications and jargon in the industry, it’s difficult to know what everything means so we thought we’d take a closer look at one of our certifications: Fair For Life.

If you’ve ever had our coffee you might have noticed a Fair For Life logo on the front of our coffee bag.

Fair For Life is a certification standard that encompasses fair trade practices and also includes responsible supply chains.

What we love about Fair For Life is the breadth and depth of the programme. While other Fair Trade certifications may focus on fair compensation for farmers and producers at origin – Fair For Life takes it a step further. It takes into consideration social responsibility, environmental responsibility, local impact, fair trade practices along the entire supply chain and more.

Fair For Life provides an excellent framework that companies can use to make a positive impact on society and the environment.

A few of the requirements of Fair For Life that go above and beyond the Fairtrade Certification include the following:

• Organizations and companies from the North and South strengthen their commitment to transparent business practices aimed at long term partnerships.
• Enhanced respect of human rights and working conditions of producers and workers with a focus on vulnerable groups.
• Reinforce the democratic representation and empowerment of producers and workers through activities that encourage their organization and autonomy.
• Improved environmental friendly practices, biodiversity, protection and co-responsibility of mitigating climate change.
• Stronger engagement of organizations and companies with the local community where they operate.

• Truthful flow of information through the supply chain and respect to consumers is assurance through rigorous labelling, traceability and disseminations requirements.

As a company whose mission is to change the world through coffee, we chose the Fair For Life programme because it is a more holistic approach to Fair Trade.

To become Fair For Life certified, a company must pass a rigorous audit conducted by a third-party organization. It’s important to us that our practices are verified by an external body so that we are accountable for continuously strengthening our Fair For Life practices.

Although this is a very short summary of Fair For Life, you can view the full Fair For Life Certification standard here.