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Serving Sustainability Along with a Cup of Lavazza Coffee By The Bay

By The Bay has partnered with Lavazza, a sustainable coffee brand on a series of initiatives this April. There is a Lavazza pop-up store at Marina Bay Link Mall (B2-24) from now till 30 April where you can learn more about Lavazza’s sustainability journey, participate in a coffee Masterclass at Bayspace on 20 April specially curated for our By The Bay Tenant Community, as well as an exclusive discount off their coffee for our community members redeemable via By The Bay app on BayShop.

Coffee enthusiasts also get to enjoy complimentary coffee tastings on 5, 7, 12 and 14 April at the Pop-up store between 11.30am to 2.30pm. Simply flash our By The Bay app to experience their new premium coffee range – Lavazza iTierra! BYOC recommended!

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In support of By The Bay’s focus on sustainability, we hear from Veronica Rossi, Sustainability Reporting and Lavazza Foundation Manager, Lavazza Group, to discover more about the Lavazza Foundation, their sustainability practices relating to their Bean to Cup approach, the “Toward 2030. What Are You Doing?” initiative, and the Lavazza ¡Tierra! Bio-Organic set of coffee blends.

Can you share more about your “Toward 2030. What are you doing?” initiative?

Lavazza: The current climatic instability is threatening the supply of high-quality coffee. If we fail to take action to stem this phenomenon, millions of hectares risk vanishing in the span of a few decades, and millions of coffee growers risk losing their livelihoods and thus being forced to migrate. Lavazza wants to stand by them in tackling the effects of climate change, promoting good agricultural practices, and supporting sustainable social development.

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Lavazza joined the United Nations Global Compact and adopted the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Objectives (SDG) in 2017. In 2019, the Company identified the four sustainable developments that are a priority for the Group. These are Goal 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth”, Goal 5 “Gender Equality”, Goal 12 “Responsible Consumption and Production” and Goal 13 “Climate Action”. The four Goals were selected to promote a balance between social (8 and 5) and environmental (12 and 13) commitments, choosing goals that could be integrated with the business and applied to all stages of the Lavazza value chain.

Lavazza decided to add an additional goal to the SDGs, the Goal Zero. Goal Zero was created with the awareness that in order to work towards the 2030 Agenda SDGs, people around Lavazza’s organization need to know what the global goals are and what they imply.

The “Toward 2030. What Are You Doing?” initiative is one of several activated in the framework of Goal Zero. It transformed the SDGs and our Goal Zero into 18 murals created in Turin by international artists.

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mural 1
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It represents a pilot project - a best practice - that can be replicated in other countries, as happened in Bristol, UK. The project aims to spread a culture of sustainability through the language of street art in order to engage citizens, and in particular the youngest members of society, and encourage them to act. The provocative question underlying the project, “What are you doing?”, urges us to remember that we all have a duty to protect the planet.

How does the brand support the local communities and families around the world that produce the beans and cherries for Lavazza’s distinguished coffee blends?

Lavazza: In 2004 Lavazza founded the non-profit organization Fondazione Giuseppe e Pericle Lavazza to coordinate and implement sustainability projects. The Foundation currently supports and funds, both independently and in collaboration with public and private organizations, 31 projects in 19 countries across 3 continents in favour of over 130,000 coffee farmers.

The main goals of all projects are to improve the quality of coffee production as well as the living conditions of farmers, fostering their spirit of entrepreneurship, while growing coffee in an environmentally sustainable way.

The Foundation supports the autonomy of local communities by emphasising the value of female workers and involves the younger generations. It encourages good agricultural practices in order to improve crop yields and coffee quality and promotes the introduction of technological tools as a means to counter the effects of climate change. The projects also promote the diversification of production to avoid soil impoverishment and reforestation, to help preserve the ecosystem.

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What can we expect to see and hear from Lavazza on upcoming efforts to engage consumers and the communities in sustainability and corporate responsibility?

Lavazza: We are developing specific programs for each of the 4 priority Goals, working for the integration of sustainability objectives in every aspect of the company development.

One first example is the Lavazza ¡Tierra! Bio-Organic, a set of three new blends that come from territories where the Lavazza Foundation’s projects are active. Each coffee is a choice: ¡Tierra! Bio-Organic For Planet, in response to climate change; ¡Tierra! Bio-Organic For Amazonia, in support of reforestation; ¡Tierra! Bio-Organic For Africa, to support the training of young farmers. iTierra! Bio-Organic brings the principles of sustainability also in its packaging thanks to a package designed to promote recycling and made of homogeneous plastics.

At the Lavazza Pop-up store at MBLM B2-24 this April, we are also introducing our new premium coffee range – Lavazza iTierra! These blends tell the sustainability story behind every cup. Every blend contains coffees from territories and communities involved in social responsibility projects, promoted and managed by Lavazza Foundation with the aim to improve coffee quality, develop social and living conditions and foster economic growth of coffee farming communities, while always respecting the environment.

By The Bay’s tenant community members will have the opportunity to learn more about the coffee and how the process of bean to cup takes place at the coffee Masterclass. We will cover topics such as the history of coffee, how raw materials are selected, preparation methods, and the Lavazza Sustainability story behind every cup; and of course, tasting and savouring the wonderful coffee thereafter.

By The Bay tenant community interested to join the coffee Masterclass can register through the By The Bay app.

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