What is the share of transport in the emissions generated during coffee production? We have developed a calculator that can calculate the emissions from transport for you. The calculator can also be applied to any products that involve a longer transport route, and in particular sea or air transport.
Origin of the data
We obtained the data from Mobitool. All values are well-to-wheel data. This means that not only the combustion of fuel is taken into account, but also efficiency, i.e., how much fossil primary energy is required for the distance traveled. This also includes losses and emissions for fuel supply. However, vehicle and infrastructure maintenance, as well as vehicle manufacturing and disposal, are not included.
Using the calculator
We use the calculator for our own coffees. Using the example of our coffees from Nicaragua, we show you how we use the calculator.
From the 2021/22 harvest, we purchased 4780 kg from our partner Bridazul in Nicaragua. Part of this comes from our Santa Rita farm, but also from other farms in the Dipilto region north of Ocotal. In this case, however, we only consider the transport from the "warehouse", where our coffees were stored in bags, to the port. The transport can thus be applied to all these coffees. All transport that occurs before this is considered in the review of the farm or green coffee and calculated there.
The journey of coffee from Nicaragua to Basel
The warehouse is located in Ocotal, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua, from there to the port in Corinto is 257 km.
To determine the distances of the transport routes, we use Google Maps for the overland route.
The container ship travels via Balboa, Panama, to Manzanillo, Mexico and then to Antwerp, Belgium.
Using the transport calculator from searates, we can calculate the shipping routes well. This gives us a total distance of 16742 km via container ship.
Once the coffee arrives at the port in Antwerp, it is loaded onto the next truck and transported the last 600 km to Basel. We then pick it up with our own bus at the port. As with cultivation, the last (kilo-)meters are charged to the roastery as it is our roastery vehicle.
In the image, you can see how we filled in the fields for our coffee.
Note
The more you know about the means of transport, the more accurate the result can be. Otherwise, as in the example in the image, you will need to use "truck, average".
Result
In our case, the largest share of emissions comes from transport by container ship. This is mainly because the coffee has been on quite a journey and stopped at three ports.
Note
If you copy your result into Excel, make sure that the periods in Excel are usually not automatically converted to commas.
Classification
With a carbon footprint of approximately 2.7 tonnes CO₂ equivalents for the 4.78 tonnes of green coffee, this results in 0.56 kg CO2e / kg green coffee for the transport emissions from Nicaragua to Switzerland.
Let's put the numbers in context and consider cultivation, transport and roasting. For cultivation, we assume a carbon footprint of 3 kg CO2e/ kg green coffee cultivation, and for roasting our roastery carbon footprint of 0.45 kg CO2e / kg coffee. (You can find more details about our roastery's carbon footprint here.)
Taking into account 15% roasting loss, the assumed coffee from Nicaragua has a total carbon footprint of 4.9 kg CO2e /kg coffee.
This makes it clear once again that the be-all and end-all for sustainability in coffee means sustainable, regenerative coffee cultivation.
In this case, the emissions from transport in the chain only represent a small portion. But if we look at regenerative coffee, then cultivation is climate-neutral (or climate-positive), then these emissions make up over 60%.
So ultimately, the coffee is the primary factor, but transport is the secondary one. We roasters have it in our hands. Alternatives already exist today, they just need to be used.
