How we have supported Fairtrade International over the last year

Fairtrade Fortnight provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the initiative and take stock of how we’ve supported Fairtrade International over the last year.

There are still many farmers and workers growing food across the world, that do not earn enough to feed their families, invest in their community, or build resilience against health and climate shocks. Fairtrade exists to combat this through a system of minimum prices for some crops and a Fairtrade premium paid in addition to the price.

In 2021, Compass Group UK & Ireland contributed an estimated £57k in Fairtrade Premium to Fairtrade producers and workers thanks to our partnership with a number of suppliers including:

- Clipper Tea – our sales of Clipper Tea products in 2021 saw almost £3,000 raised for projects seeking to improve the quality of life for workers and families, encourage biodiversity on the tea estates, as well as investments in pensions, healthcare and schooling.

- Lemonaid Beverages UK - During 2021, 20 projects were supported and the funds raised for the Lemonaid & ChariTea Foundation meant that 525 people could successfully increase their income and almost 2000 people received some sort of vocational training (with at least 1300 of them women).

- Karma Drinks – Sales of Karma drinks in 2021, helped towards the construction of 4 new schools, 8 qualifications and salaries for teachers, 135 bursaries for girls to go to school as well as 200 farmers provided with seedling support.

- Tate & Lyle – our sales of Tate & Lyle sugar generated over £15,000 in Fairtrade Premium in 2021 benefitting sugar cane farmers of the The Progressive Sugar Cane Producers Association (PSCPA) in Belize. PSCPA’s 2021 projects included setting up almost 60 farming households with their own smallholder poultry hatcherys and rolling out training on forced labour and gender based violence across the farming community.

We are really proud of these achievements and will continue to drive forward our relationship with The Fairtrade Foundation to make a difference to the lives of farmers across the world.   

Eleanor Deans, Partnership Manager at the Fairtrade Foundation commented on our commitment; “Compass Group UK & Ireland’s ongoing commitment to Fairtrade sourcing is one to celebrate. The climate crisis is the biggest threat facing to the livelihoods of millions of small-scale farmers and workers in low-income countries worldwide. As the farmers and workers who grow our food need to be able to adapt to new ways of farming, it becomes even more important for businesses to source on Fairtrade terms”. 

Click here to read more about the history of our partnership with Fairtrade her.