Soho Coffee Shop, Esquires Coffee Houses and AMT were named the top three ethical coffee shop brands across a number of environmental, social, sustainability and Fairtrade categories from 14 national chains in a recent study by Ethical Consumer.
Starbucks and Harris + Hoole came bottom of the ranking scoring 4.5 and 2.5 respectively out of 20.
The Scorecard rating analysed the brands performance for environment, treatment of animals, people, political issues and product sustainability.
Soho Coffee Company was top because of its commitment to using all Fairtrade coffee, tea, sugar and hot chocolate as well as organic produce. The report also noted: “It doesn’t appear to use tax avoidance strategies and its environmental, supply chain and workers’ rights policies are the best in the sector.”
The report found most companies scored poorly on environmental reporting and did not have meaningful targets in relation to its policies.
The report focuses on the tax affairs, and the ethical sourcing claims that the chains make about their coffee.
