The last few years has seen a lot of growth in the CSR segment and the world of coffee is facing ever new challenges. In 2009, we set a goal for Kaffehuset Friele to buy 100% certified sustainable coffee by 2014. We have come a long way with over 60% of the coffee bought in 2010 being certified by partly Fairtrade and mainly Utz Certified. The coffee prices are at an all time high, however, and we predict some challenges ahead. It is important for Kaffehuset Friele to be sincere in our social responsibility and we therefore find it reassuring to have an organisation like Global Compact to help us reach our goals of sustainability. There are many issues that we alone cannot address, but as a network of companies committed to sustainable trade can.

We look forward to seeing how Global Compacts role will develop in the future.

Kaffehuset Friele’s goal is to influence the work for respect for Human & Labour Rights and environmental protection both within the company and towards our business partners.
Based on our commitment we have set up the Kaffehuset Friele Code of Conduct to make our position clear for all our suppliers, for our own staff and for other partners. Our Code of Conduct contains labour- and environment requirements, as well as other ethical requirements, which comply with provisions in the international conventions and instruments, such as the ILO Core Conventions.

We buy over 60% of our coffee from certified coffee farms and our goal is to increase this for every year. At the moment we are committed to buying coffee that is certified by Fairtrade and Utz Certified. They are both committed to providing practices that implement human rights through the whole supply chain. We trust these certifications with their third party audits and believe that they are capable of handling any violations that they may find.

We have handed out our written Code of Conduct to most of our suppliers, and asked them to sign that they comply. So far we have not conducted an independent audit of these practices to those of our suppliers that do not comply with any of the certification systems we encourage.

We do, however, encourage the three main certifications within the coffee trade, Fairtrade, Utz Certified and Rainforest Alliance to create a unison audit system. Many of our suppliers are certified by more than one and are constantly being audited because of this.

Point 2 of our Code of Conduct states:

2.1 Workers, without distinction, shall have the right to join or form trade unions of their choosing and to bargain collectively.

2.2 Workers representatives shall not be discriminated and shall have access to carry out their representative functions in the workplace.

2.3 Where the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is restricted under law, the employer shall facilitate, and not hinder, the development of parallel means for independent and free association and bargaining.

As stated under ”Human Rights” we have handed out our written Code of Conduct to most of our suppliers. We have received and logged a signed copy for them to comply.

We have also started to hand out self assessment forms for our suppliers which we receive and log. This is a practice we want to expand in the coming two years. Our focus has been on our suppliers of green coffee and we hope to expand this focus to our other suppliers as well.

Our internal practices adhere to Norwegian law.

Utz Certified and Fairtrade both have regular audits of coffee farms and we trust that they can identify any issues when it comes to any violations within their code of conduct rules for labour.
We have also started to write our own internal valuations from visiting different coffee farms. But we do not see ourselves as qualified auditors and are merely observatory.

Environmental measures shall be taken into consideration throughout the production and distribution chain ranging from the production of raw material to the consumer sale. Local, regional and global environmental aspects shall be considered. The local environment at the production site shall not be exploited or degraded by pollution.

National and international environmental legislation and regulations shall be respected.

Relevant discharge permits shall be obtained where required.

Hazardous chemicals and other substances shall be carefully managed.

Kaffehuset Friele has included our environmental policies in our Code of Conduct.

Our certified coffee also has similar, if not stricter, environmental policies in their certification systems.

We’ve also spent three years going through several environmental audits of our practices.

At our roaster in Bergen, Norway we have been measuring and reorganising our own environmental practices. By switching from oil fuelled to gas fuelled burners, we have reduced our emissions by 500 metric ton CO2.

We have also installed a bulk handling system for green coffee. This means that we receive most of our green coffee in bulk rather than in coffee bags. This in turn means that we are able to reduce the number of shipments by approximately 10%. Due to higher filling grade in each container. We are thus reducing yearly emissions by 200 metric ton CO2.

Our waste control is over 80% sorted and several recyclable practices have been put in place.

Kaffehuset Friele has also bought several carbon credits both within clean energy and in tree planting projects. It has been important to us to invest in environmental projects that are in countries we do business with.

We receive an annual audits from CO2 Focus and Miljøfyrtårn on our environmental practices. The parameters for measuring our environmental policies are constantly in review, but we trust in the competency of Miljøfyrtårn and CO2 Focus to give us a reliable audit on our environmental practices.

Kaffehuset Friele, including all employees, do not accept the offer, gift or
acceptance of a bribe in any form, including kickbacks, on any portion of a contract
payment, or the use of other routes or channels to provide improper benefits to
customers, agents, contractors, suppliers, or employees of any such party or
governmental officials.

Our anti-corruption guidelines are built into our Code of Conduct.