Re: George Clooney on Fair Trade board for Nespresso

[it's me]

Nice to see it again

[Nicky80]

Oh yes could see it over and over and over again. I would have never given him back his suitcase. Ok maybe only part of it LOL

[it's me]

Or called him again
Later

[party animal - not!]

Very impressed, Silly Girl? Me too, me too! The voice of reason speaks. And diplomacy. And common sense. And glamour. And.., And...

[Juliette Hardy]

The knowing ads riff off his public persona: uber suave and a little bit smug.

 amusing....

But there are critical differences between advert Clooney and NSAB Clooney – the former doesn't talk about farming....

After seven years of advert Clooney, he's moving onto a more serious role in his involvement with the company with this Sustainability advisory board.  Overall more effective.  There's a balance with his commercial & humanitarian work.

[Mazy]

July 18, 2013 2 hours ago — written by Tom Idle, 2degrees
NESPRESSO TO TAKE ITS SUPPLY CHAIN EFFORTS TO AFRICA, WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM GEORGE CLOONEY
Prompted by the star of its ad campaigns – and to mark the 10th birthday of its successful AAA supply quality program – Nespresso will set up shop in South Sudan. Tom Idle reports

As the face of Nespresso for the last seven years, George Clooney has allowed the company’s successful ad campaigns to poke fun at his suave public image. Its TV commercials often see Clooney turned down by a string of beautiful women who are much more interested in the company’s tasty coffee than in the man twice voted ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ by People Magazine.

But behind the scenes at the Nestle-owned capsule-coffee giant, the actor is taken rather more seriously. In fact, Clooney is playing a key role in the future direction of the company’s sustainability strategy.

The press were yesterday invited to a secret Paris location to meet members of the newly-established Nespresso sustainability advisory board (NSAB), which sees Clooney sitting alongside representatives of long-standing partners the Rainforest Alliance, as well as Fairtrade International and the not-for-profit TechnoServe.

And one of the many announcements made by Nespresso is a plan to expand its well-established AAA sustainability quality program by taking it to the farmers of South Sudan – a country that has exported nothing but oil since the end of the civil war.

It’s a region close to Clooney’s heart. Last year, the sometime political activist was arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington DC after protesting about human rights abuses in the country. And after many years working as a key component of the company’s brand, the actor saw an opportunity to better understand the positive social impact Nespresso could have in communities around the world.

People have started to challenge me on sustainability, so I needed to understand what Nespresso were really doing “I would find myself at a press conference for a film festival and people would challenge me on the sustainability of Nespresso. So, I knew that if I was going to be involved with this company on a long-term basis, I needed to understand what they really were doing and what they should be responsible for,” he told journalists.

Accompanied by Nespresso’s marketing and strategy director, Guillaume le Cunff, Clooney took off to visit farmers in Costa Rica “to see how much better their lives had become since becoming AAA-approved farms”.

"It coincided with the work I was doing in South Sudan, just before its vote for independence from the North. And we started talking about opening up coffee in the country; to see if it was viable.”
It was.

In fact, what the company or Clooney didn’t know was that the Sudanese people used to grow a lot of coffee there and there were some fantastic plantations. However, that was a long time ago. Today, there’s only one product coming out of South Sudan and that is oil. “Someone takes the oil from the ground beneath the feet of the people living there puts it in a pipe or on the back of a truck and takes it to a dock in Khartoum.

George Clooney is joined by fellow NSAB members (right to left) Reza, Tensie Whelan, Nespresso CEO Jean-Marc Duvoisin, Guillaume Le Cunff, ex-adviser to President Salva Kiir in the Republic of South Sudan, Ted Dagne, as well as the BBC's David Eades

"And the profits don’t seem to trickle down to the people whose land they are taking the oil from,” said a passionate Clooney. “There’s an opportunity for this to be incredibly successful. Nespresso is taking this opportunity not out of charity, but to make it profitable. They want it to succeed.”

Before the project to be the first company to offer coffee in South Sudan since independence is realized (and it’s a long-term vision; there aren’t even any roads in the country and a substantial planting program will need to be devised), Nespresso will expand its AAA program across the planet. The company has spent the past ten years working with the Rainforest Alliance to ensure that the communities it relies on to produce quality coffee are rewarded properly and that they properly steward the natural resources they so depend upon.

Today, some 56,000 small holder farmers are part of the program and around 80% of the company’s coffee is currently sourced from AAA farms. But that number will jump significantly in the coming years, with the introduction of AAA into farms in Ethiopia, Kenya and, of course, South Sudan, as well as concerted efforts to bring all of its farmers into the program.

“Farmers are facing a number of challenges, not least climate change, with droughts, storms, soil loss, deforestation and water contamination. They are experiencing low yield and high costs. As a result, farmers are leaving the sector,” said Tensie Whelan, president of the Rainforest Alliance, another of those sitting proudly on the NSAB.

Globally, there are 25 million small holder coffee farmers - too many of whom are living on less than $1 a day A decade ago, the Rainforest Alliance helped Nespresso devise a program to tackle these very issues. The AAA program was born as a way of helping farmers adopt sustainable principles while improving productivity and ensuring the very best quality coffee is produced.

And it works. A recent independent study by the Colombian organization CRECE assessed the true impact – social, environmental and economic – of the AAA program on 1,000 farmers. It found that those in the AAA system were recording an 87% higher net income than those that were not a part of it.

Nespresso farmers are more than seven times likely to employ waste-water management, they recycle at a rate 50% higher than local farmers that haven’t been trained by the Rainforest Alliance and they are more likely to employ soil conservation methods.

“Coffee lovers need to know that their drug of choice will disappear without companies like Nespresso stepping in,” added Whelan. Sitting next to her at the Paris press conference was Harriet Lamb, CEO of Fairtrade International who seemed equally excited to be joining forces with the coffee company, both as strategic partner and as personal member of the NSAB. “Globally, there are about 25 million small holder coffee farmers – too many of whom are living on less than $1 a day,” she said.

“And too many are suffering from price volatility, with prices at an all-time high one minute, and dropping to hell and back the next. In the last 18 months, prices for coffee have dropped 53%. It’s not a good way to bring up a family or a good way to run a business.”

To bring about that much-needed price stability, a new partnership will kick off which will see Nespresso source 10% of its coffee from Fairtrade-certified co-operatives in the region of Caldas, Colombia, comprising around 7,000 small-scale farmers. “It’s about farmer organization. Farmers on their own will always be powerless but by joining forces they can drive change,” added Lamb.

2degrees editor Tom Idle met with George Clooney, and other NSAB members, at Nespresso's Paris press conference Nespresso’s string of sustainability pledges and target-expansions are impressive. Its AAA system is having a positive impact on farmers the world over.

But there’s plenty more to be done and by devising an advisory board that includes many of the figures that have continued to pressure companies like Nespresso to do the right thing, the business is continuing to challenge itself.

And in Clooney the company has a true gift – a celebrity endorsement that actually understands the supply chain challenges involved and cares enough to put his name behind a campaign that aims to do something to tackle them.

To read more about Nespresso’s AAA program, click.
The NSAB also includes: Peter Bakker, president, World Business Council for Sustainable Development; Polly Courtice, director of the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL); Daniel Katz, chairman and founder,

Rainforest Alliance; Tristan Lecomte, co-founder, Pur Projet; Bruce McNamer, president and CEO, TechnoServe; and Reza, National Geographic photographer.

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[NotAvailable]

It was always there in him to want the best from all of this. Its just now gotten to the point tho where he can feel much better about it all. I love seeing him happy like this.

[Mazy]

How George Clooney Could Help Nespresso Solve Its Coffee Pod Problem

By Tina Casey | July 25th, 2013

George Clooney has become a familiar face in the world of coffee thanks to his association with the upscale coffee company Nespresso, and now it appears that the actor is poised to help Nespresso address a daunting set of sustainability issues. The problem is that Nespresso has been trying to establish itself as a green brand, but its whole business platform rests on the latest symbol of wasteful packaging: the disposable single-serving coffee pod.

Nespresso is, of course, encouraging its customers to recycle the pods, and while that would appear to be a logical message for Clooney to help pitch, the company has set its sights on a more comprehensive message. Clooney, who has a history of environmental activism under his belt, is no longer mere window dressing for Nespresso’s ad campaigns, he is now a member of the company’s newly formed Sustainability Advisory Board, which will help steer the company’s “AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program.”

A comprehensive approach to sustainability
Nespresso’s stepped-up relationship with Clooney provides a good illustration of how companies that sell problematic goods and services can still make significant progress on sustainability issues overall, even if they don’t directly address the object of controversy (which in this case, is the coffee pods).

In fact, Nespresso’s website avoids the entire pod life cycle issue, including the recycling message. The site’s recycling page sports only a brief reminder that customers can bring the pods back to Nespresso or Sur la Table locations before moving briskly along to note that the pods are made of aluminum in order to preserve flavor.

In contrast, the AAA Sustainable Quality Program receives a lavish amount of attention from Nespresso. The program started ten years ago in partnership with the Rainforest Alliance and other stakeholders, with the aim of promoting sustainable coffee growing and, by association, sustainable communities (for a similar approach, take a look at the vision recently expressed byLevi Strauss CEO and President John Anderson).

According to Nespresso (which, by the way, is a unit of Nestlé), a recent study by the Colombian research institute CRECE indicates that the program is working, with AAA-participating farms demonstrating “significantly higher levels of environmental, economic and social performance.”

George Clooney and the Sustainability Advisory Board
The formation of the Sustainability Advisory Board comes at a critical time for AAA, as Nespresso plans to expand the program in Ethiopia and Kenya, and re-establish coffee growing in South Sudan. The initiative includes partnerships with local governments and the nonprofit organizationTechnoServe, as well as community development programs.

Building on its success with AAA in Latin America, Nespresso also plans to expand AAA to serve more “smallholder” farms in Ethiopia and Kenya, with the goal of doubling the supply of coffee from the region by 2020. According to Nespresso, it currently has 56,000 farms enrolled in the program and receives about 80 percent of its coffee from those farms.

Clooney’s role is expected to focus on the South Sudan project with TechnoServe. The organization has a solid track record in local agricultural development, including coffee farming.

As for Mr. Clooney’s track record, so far he hasn’t been on our radar but now is a good time to catch up. Back in 2006, the actor appeared in a splashy green-themed cover for Vanity Fair to help promote the oil-themed film Syriana, noting in an interview that “If you’re doing a movie about oil consumption and corruption, you can’t just talk the talk. You gotta walk the walk.”

The “walk” for Syriana included a partnership with the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council that launched the Oil Change campaign. In a symbolic tie-in, Clooney became an early EV adopter with the purchase of an all-electric Tango, later upgrading to a Tesla Roadster EV.

Interestingly, in a 2011 profile Clooney noted a conflict between his environmental concerns and his use of private jets. That may soon become a moot point as renewable jet biofuel comes into widespread use, but it does echo the dilemma that companies like Nespresso and, for that matter,Green Mountain find themselves in.

As with private jet travel, when you look at the coffee pod issue in isolation what you see is a wasteful practice.
Clooney has created a bigger picture by engaging in environmental issues as well as numerous humanitarian and human rights endeavors. Similarly, Nespresso is working to achieve a counterbalance to the pod issue, and its sustainable farming initiatives arguably accomplish that.

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[party animal - not!]

Laudable stuff at the top end by Our Hero, but I see that at the Paris shop he was in recently, the staff are not very happy bunnies, because they're being paid so badly by Nestle!

[it's me]

Thanks for the article and the Clooney bolding too

[Rainy]

I feel like I'm a killjoy, because I really can't be happy with George's involvement with Nespresso because of it's owner is Nestle. This I just my opinion and I'm no trying to irk anybody.

I still do have great respect for George for his efforts with NSAB among other things and especially for using the profits to help the situation in Southern-Sudan. I just wish that George would have partnered with a company that was more ethical.

[theminis]

Rainy - a lot of people feel that way but I guess its little steps to a big change and part of whats happening now may in the end make everyone a little bit more accountable.

[fluffy]

Rainy, have you considered just how many products are made by Nestle? Since companies own other subsidiaries, they make allsorts, coffee, biscuits, cereals. It's almost impossible to avoid (unless you grow your own!), so I think what George is doing is great, and if 1 tiny thing can make a difference then that's to the greater good, and at least the companies don't get all the profit! JMO!!  

[Katiedot]

I like that George's involvement has got something good done for Sudan. I'd be pretty sure Nespresso wouldn't be encouraging coffee farmers there if it weren't for him.

[silly girl]

Since this, I am assuming, has to do with coffee in the Sudan---have not seen this photo before...

George Clooney presentò en París su 1ra cosecha de café, cultivada en Sudán del sur, impulsado junto a Nespresso [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

— Marcela Fittipaldi (@fittipaldimag) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Translation:
Translated from Spanish by Bing Translator
George Clooney presented in Paris his 1st harvest coffee cultivated in Sudan's South, driven by Nespresso

[Mazy]

Thanks so much SillyGirl

[Nicky80]

Thanks SG nice picture I lobve it  

[Carla97]

Grrreat picture of a great man , I love it too. And resent! That´s the best thing.
Now it´s bedtime for me, maybe I have little energy left to read a while...

[amaretti]

I like it too . Nice moment . 

[it's me]

I today saw an Italian new advert
No G
Some ppl and 2 specific kind of blend coffee capsula

Even not his voice in the "what else" end


Not the principal
But no sign about him

[Mazy]

There was something so familiar about that last picture soI checked my files.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

It's from an article, if it's not on here I will post the rest. I got them from either George Clooney project or George Clooney Daily. Like I said if NOT on here I will post the rest.

[theminis]

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George Clooney wants you to drink this coffee


Can war-torn South Sudan rebuild its economy, bean by bean? Coffee industry insiders think so.

Robusta coffee beans, shown here growing in Indonesia, are a potential new export for South Sudan. (Paula Bronstein/AFP/Getty Images)
   
NAIROBI, Kenya — George Clooney wants you to drink South Sudan’s coffee. And this isn't about charity — it's all business.

The Hollywood star has a long relationship with South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011 after a peace deal that ended a long-running war with the Sudanese government in the north.

He has worked as a peace advocate there and even launched a satellite project to keep tabs on troop movements and human rights abuses.

In July he took a new tack, announcing plans, in conjunction with Swiss company Nespresso, to restart coffee production in South Sudan.

Clooney and Nespresso will work with the government “to revive high quality coffee production in the country in order to contribute to economic development and create supply,” according to a company statement.

“Nespresso plans to be the first company to offer coffee from the country following its independence,” the company said.

As the massive global industry wakes up to South Sudan’s untapped potential resource, purveyors of joe from Texas to Switzerland are turning an eye toward the newly independent country.

Experts say it will take three to 10 years to revive coffee-growing in South Sudan. Nespresso does not expect to begin selling any South Sudanese coffee until 2015, but Clooney is confident the initiative will be “game-changing.”

“There is a real opportunity here,” he said.

Others think so too, and might just beat Nespresso to the punch.

Russell Hayward, who runs Ascension Coffee in Dallas, visited South Sudan for the first time in 2012. A friend digging wells in the country had stumbled across some coffee trees, picked the beans, and brought them back for Hayward to try.

“It was pretty good,” he recalled. “So I jumped on a plane and started looking around for coffee, and I started finding it.”

He also found a long and rich history of coffee production, dating back to the 1930s but interrupted by war.

“What I saw there was such an incredible potential, but there’s no market and no one to buy it,” he said.

Decades of civil war between Sudan’s mainly African south and Arab north split the country in 2011, and left the new nation of South Sudan in a pitiful state. The few roads that had been built there were destroyed. The same went for schools, hospitals and the economy.

Today South Sudan doesn’t export any coffee. But it has the raw material: trees still stand in neglected low-altitude plantations and grow wild in mountain forests.

So Hayward started a five-year program called “Restore the Bean,” intended to breathe life back into South Sudan’s once-thriving coffee farms by rehabilitating overgrown and abandoned plots in Central Equatoria state.

Hayward said 50 acres are already in the process of being replanted. He hopes to expand the program by 100 acres per year, ultimately creating a self-sustained industry in a country that is almost entirely reliant on oil exports and in dire need of diversifying its economy.

“I would love to offer my customers in Dallas a South Sudanese espresso. Coffee has regional characteristics so no one has tasted that coffee yet,” said Hayward.

South Sudan has climate variety similar to its major coffee-exporting neighbors, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya. From the misty heights of the Boma plateau, to the tropical forests of the Imatong Mountains, to the fertile lowlands of Central Equatoria, what South Sudan has to offer the coffee market should, as Clooney hopes, succeed. But will it?

John Logan is a regional director at TechnoServe, which offers business advice and training in the developing world. He’s working with Nespresso and Clooney to help revive South Sudan’s coffee production, and has tried a cup or two of what's on offer.

More from GlobalPost: Should your next cup of Nespresso come from South Sudan? George Clooney thinks so

“I’ve got some washed South Sudanese Robusta which is quite drinkable, kind of a neutral taste but it’s got body and a truckload of caffeine in it,” said Logan.

And that’s promising. “There’s a premium market developing for washed Robusta that goes into espressos,” he said.

Dr. Tim Schilling, executive director of World Coffee Research, a coffee research and development organization managed by Texas A&M University, also believes there’s great potential for South Sudan’s Robusta — but its Arabica is another question.

In 2011 Schilling led an expedition to the Boma Plateau, hoping to discover new types of Arabica as he assessed the sector’s potential. He was left underwhelmed, seeing just one viable production option in the Imatong Mountains.

“George Clooney thinks there’s potential for Arabica production in South Sudan. Now I don’t know what source of information he has, but we know that the Imatong forest represents probably the only real commercial potential for the production of Arabica coffee,” Schilling said.

Logan agreed. Boma, he said, only grows “village coffee — a few trees here and there.” There was a bit more high in the Imatong Mountains, but the real potential, he said, lies in Robusta.

TechnoServe already has staff working in Yei, in South Sudan, and has imported machines to improve the quality and consistency of production. But restarting the industry will be a long, slow process.

“It’s still very, very early days,” said David Browning, a senior vice president at TechnoServe. “This is about how South Sudan can be helped in the slow, patient building of an industry. This will not be an overnight exercise.”

The rewards for South Sudan could be great, helping the country to grow its economy and earn a different name for itself on the world stage — or at least in the world’s coffee shops.

“Raising South Sudan’s visibility and promoting the idea that it can do something — that there is hope here — that would be very, very positive,” said Schilling.

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[Mazy]

Thanks so much TheMinis for this article, "Where there is life there is hope." God Bless George. Why don't these stores these stories multiply like 'wild fire?'

I think that the public would also appreciate hearing them as well. Thanks again. <3

[party animal - not!]

Great article. And Technoserve are a really good global company in it for the long haul in terms of ethical development in areas where help is needed.

Admirable - makes a change from exploitation!

Thanks Themi

[it's me]

hope others will do the same
in helping there

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