Selling Sustainability Short?
The Private Governance of Labor and the Environment in the Coffee Sector

This large-N, three-country study of the coffee sector assesses the effectiveness of private governance by standards in promoting sustainable production.

Janina Grabs (Author)

9781108799508, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 March 2022

352 pages, 16 b/w illus. 22 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.518 kg

'… I recommend this great book without any reservation to anyone interested in voluntary business practices toward sustainable goals - in coffee and beyond. It is theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich and is likely to inspire new ideas and conversations about the path toward more labor and environmentally friendly production.' Luc Fransen, Perspectives on Politics

Can private standards bring about more sustainable production practices? This question is of interest to conscientious consumers, academics studying the effectiveness of private regulation, and corporate social responsibility practitioners alike. Grabs provides an answer by combining an impact evaluation of 1,900 farmers with rich qualitative evidence from the coffee sectors of Honduras, Colombia and Costa Rica. Identifying an institutional design dilemma that private sustainability standards encounter as they scale up, this book shows how this dilemma plays out in the coffee industry. It highlights how the erosion of price premiums and the adaptation to buyers' preferences have curtailed standards' effectiveness in promoting sustainable practices that create economic opportunity costs for farmers, such as agroforestry or agroecology. It also provides a voice for coffee producers and value chain members to explain why the current system is failing in its mission to provide environmental, social, and economic co-benefits, and what changes are necessary to do better.

1. Introduction
2. The dilemma of effective private governance
3. Defining the goal of a sustainable coffee sector
4. Changing the market
5. Changing farming practices
6. Designing effective private institutions
7. Interacting with public institutions
8. Conclusions.

Subject Areas: Agronomy & crop production [TVK], Organic farming [TVG], Sustainability [RNU], Forestry & related industries [KNAL], Commodities [KFFM1]