We are also supporters of the growing sustainable coffee industry and as such offer Australia's largest range of sustainable approved suppliers of sustainable coffees including:

• Rainforest Alliance
• Fairtrade
• UTZ Kapeh
• Organic
• EurepGAP
• Shade Grown
• Bird Friendly

The 4C Association

The VOLCAFE Group is a member of the Common Code for the Coffee Community (also known as the 4 C Association) - an organization in which all relevant stakeholders from the coffee sector follow one common goal: continually improving the level of sustainability in the production, processing, and trading of all green coffee.

The Common Code for the Coffee Community is based on a Code of Conduct for the mainstream coffee sector. This Code has been developed in a multi-stakeholder process. The Volcafe group was a proud member of the steering committee through December 2006 and remains a member of the organization today. The Code guides coffee farmers towards a more sustainable coffee production and processing. Farmers can enter the 4C commercial system by reaching a baseline level of sustainability in their social, environmental and economic practices. At the same time, they commit themselves to continuously improving these practices.

The 4C Code of Conduct covers 30 social, environmental and economic principles for all factors in the green coffee supply chain (such as farmers, plantations, producer organizations, estates, mills, exporters, traders, etc.). Once the participants have eliminated 10 practices defined as unacceptable, they have to continuously improve their practices in order to comply with the Code of Conduct. This unique approach makes 4C a non-competitive but complementary initiative to existing standards.

For details, please consider the Code Document. For further information on social and ecological standards please visit the Standard Initiatives section.