Project: The Heart of Home

According to the WHO, indoor air pollution due to open stove cooking is one of the most common causes of health problems in Colombia. And it is women and children who are impacted the most, because they are responsible for most of the domestic work in Columbia.

We wanted help, so in 2019 we started the Heart of Home project with the aim of finding a solution to the polluted indoor climate. We quickly found out that with a modern eco-stove we could eliminate the harmful particle pollution from the hearth, and so far we have installed ovens at 60 female coffee farmers and their families, thus ensuring them a slightly healthier everyday life.

HOW THE ECO STOVE CHANGED ThE LIFE CARMEN TULIA RAMIREZ

On a typical day, before Carmen had the eco-stove installed, she got up very early to light the fire to heat up the house and get it ready for cooking breakfast a few hours later. During the day she stoked the fire with large quantities of wood just to keep the embers and heat going.

The soot particles from the open fire spread throughout the house – including the air that Carmen and her family breathed. Thanks to the eco-oven, Carmen can now start her day later in the morning. The stove heats up the home much faster and keeps the heat longer. This means that Carmen uses much less firewood than before to have a warm home and a fire to cook on, and she uses the ashes from the stove as fertilizer.

Carmen spends the extra time with her family and developing her business. But best of all, her children no longer have to play and sleep in a polluted indoor climate.

THE HISTORY

OF THE ECO STOVE

In a coffee plantation, the crops must be replaced every 5 to 6 years, as the productivity drops drastically for older plants. This replacement of plants happens continuously to ensure an even coffee harvest across the seasons. The wood from the unproductive crops is used by the farmers for cooking and heating the home, and there is a long tradition in Colombia of making the most of every precious resource. Therefore, the inherent circular nature of the eco-stove was the obvious choice. The 60 stoves installed so far are a donation from our customers or those who have contributed to Nespresso. The donor’s name appears on a sign on the eco-stoves in the farmers’ homes.

YOUR CUP MAKES A DIFFERENCE

The Heart of Home is close to our hearts. Equally important is Nespresso’s LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), which measures your coffee’s CO2 footprint (from Nespresso Pro). Without skilled farmers and Nespresso’s agronomists, we would not be able to offer delicious coffee to the whole world. Together, we put a lot of effort into the development of a more sustainable coffee production, and the hard but necessary work to reduce the environmental impact continues up through Nespresso’s entire value chain.

The most important part of your coffee’s CO2 footprint is the supply of green coffee beans, which make up 45%. Thanks to the AAA Sustainability Quality programme, Nespresso has reduced its CO2 footprint by 24% since 2009, among other things by supplying organic fertilizer, developing better arable forestry and increasing the consumption of renewable energy sources. (Source: Quantis2020 Swiaa B2B LCA).

There is only one planet. And we have to do what we can to take care of it. Therefore, it is important to choose coffee that takes into account both the well-being of the coffee farmers and sustainable farming methods. Do you want to know more about the Nespresso LCA and how the CO2 footprint is distributed?

Project: The Heart of Home

HOW THE ECO STOVE CHANGED ThE LIFE CARMEN TULIA RAMIREZ

THE HISTORY

OF THE ECO STOVE

YOUR CUP MAKES A DIFFERENCE

OUR COFFEE IS SERVED WITH FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ENTIRE VALUE CHAIN – ALL THE WAY FROM OUR SKILLED COFFEE GROWERS TO YOUR FAVORITE CUP.

REcyclable packaging

There are 3 sides to every story

The positive cup

Thank you for your interest, you will be contacted by a Nespresso Professional consultant within 2-3 business days