Coffee Certifications – 4C Association

The Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C) is an open and inclusive membership association involving coffee producers, trade and industry and civil society. The 4C Code of Conduct embraces 28 social, environmental and economic principles for all players in the green coffee supply chain – farmers, plantations, producer organizations, estates, mills, exporters and traders – establishing baseline requirements for the sustainable production, processing and trading of coffee and eliminating unacceptable practices.

The code facilitates a dynamic improvement process by providing guidance for and commitment to continuous improvement. 4C helps growers, especially small-holders, and their business partners to step up from the sustainability baseline to more demanding standards.

Over 90% of the coffee consumed in the world today is considered Mainstream commodity coffee. Most of it is bought and sold by the large corporations to mass production coffee roasters. This cheap mainstream anonymous coffee is usually responsible for environmental and social destruction effects on the coffee growers.

The 4C Association, made up largely of mainstream producers and suppliers, put together the 4C Code of Conduct to address some of the most egregious, unsustainable practices in the industry.

While compliance with the 4C Code of Conduct does not constitute an official certification, it’s a useful frame of reference.