Sustainable Posperity for Coffee Farmers through National Plans for Coffee Sustainability based on the SDGs
As part of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York, CAF - the development bank of Latin America and the Caribbean - together with the Center for Sustainable Investment at Columbia University, the World Coffee Producers Forum, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN), invite you to join the side event: “Prosperity for Coffee Producers through National Plans for Coffee Sustainability based on the SDGs.”
This high-level gathering will feature the launch of the guide of the same name, present key recommendations, issue a call to action, and create a space for strategic dialogue to foster international cooperation in support of coffee sustainability and producer prosperity.
The guide aims to inform and strengthen the design and implementation of public policies and private initiatives that advance the well-being of agricultural communities worldwide. It will be made permanently and freely available to the international community as a resource for action. In Latin America, it has already been incorporated into CAF’s Agricultural Prosperity initiative.
Date: September 24, 2025
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. (Eastern Time Zone)
The event will be broadcasted to this website
Event date:
September 24, 2025
Online
Coffee is a globally traded commodity that provides livelihoods for more than 12.5 million farming families in more than 60 countries. However, most smallholder coffee farmers live in conditions of economic insecurity, exacerbated by climate vulnerability, structural inequities, and limited access to finance and markets. These persistent challenges pose a threat to rural well-being, global coffee supply, and sustainable development in producing regions.
Latin America and the Caribbean is responsible for more than 70% of the global production of Arabica coffee and 6.5% of the world's robusta coffee, and is home to more than 5 million coffee-growing families. Despite their essential role in the rural economy and cultural identity of the region, these coffee-growing families remain the most fragile link in the value chain.
Faced with this challenge, a transformative proposal emerges: "Prosperity for Coffee Producers through National Coffee Sustainability Plans based on the SDGs", which proposes an innovative and pragmatic approach to align national coffee policies with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This guided tool provides a clear roadmap to mobilize and empower governments, producer organizations, financial institutions, the private sector and other stakeholders around a renewed shared agenda for rural prosperity to build inclusive, resilient and sustainable rural coffee economies.
The initiative was proposed by the World Coffee Producers Forum (FMPC) and has the financial and technical support of CAF - development bank of Latin America and the Caribbean. The design is led by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, in collaboration with a team from Columbia University's Center on Sustainable Investing (CCSI) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN). In addition, the Wise Responders Institute of the University of Oxford provided diagnostic and analysis inputs based on the Multidimensional Poverty Index methodology developed by SOPHIA Oxford.
Participants:
Sergio Díaz-Granados
Executive President, CAF -Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean-
Colombia
Jeffrey Sachs
Director of the Sustainable Development Center, Columbia University.
Jamie Coats
CEO Wise Responder y Cofounder Sophia Oxford
Vanusia Nogueira
Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO)
Juan Esteban Orduz
President of the World Coffee Producers Forum
Sergio Díaz-Granados
Executive President, CAF -Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean-
Colombia
Sergio Díaz-Granados has extensive experience in public and private service, both nationally and internationally, with special emphasis on regional development and integration issues. Before assuming the presidency of CAF, he served as Executive Director for Colombia at the Inter-American Development Bank. He previously held the positions of Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, Vice Minister of Business Development and President of the Boards of Directors of Bancóldex and ProColombia. He also has been a congressman and chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee of the Colombia’s House of Representatives.
Jeffrey Sachs
Director of the Sustainable Development Center, Columbia University.
Sachs is widely recognized for bold and effective strategies to address complex challenges including the escape from extreme poverty, the global battle against human-induced climate change, international debt and financial crises, national economic reforms, and the control of pandemic and epidemic diseases.
Sachs serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he holds the rank of University Professor, the university’s highest academic rank. Sachs was Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016. He is President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Co-Chair of the Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition, academician of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican, Commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Honorary Distinguished Professor at Sunway University, and SDG Advocate for UN Secretary General António Guterres. From 2001-18, Sachs served as Special Advisor to UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan (2001-7), Ban Ki-moon (2008-16), and António Guterres (2017-18).
Sachs has authored and edited numerous books, including three New York Times bestsellers: The End of Poverty (2005), Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008), and The Price of Civilization (2011). Other books include To Move the World: JFK’s Quest for Peace (2013), The Age of Sustainable Development (2015), Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair & Sustainable (2017), A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism (2018), The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (2020), and most recently, Ethics in Action for Sustainable Development (2022).
Sachs is the 2022 recipient of the Tang Prize in Sustainable Development and was the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership. He was twice named among Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders. Sachs has received 42 honorary doctorates, and his recent awards include the 2022 Tang Prize in Sustainable Development, the Legion of Honor by decree of the President of the Republic of France, and the Order of the Cross from the President of Estonia.
Prior to joining Columbia, Sachs spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, most recently as the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Sachs received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard.
Jamie Coats
CEO Wise Responder y Cofounder Sophia Oxford
Cofundador y Director Ejecutivo de Wise Responder, Inc. Es un líder de pensamiento apasionado sobre la necesidad global de utilizar datos sociales poderosos para ayudar a erradicar la pobreza y construir un mundo más sostenible y equitativo. Dirige la estrategia empresarial, el crecimiento operativo, la relación con clientes y el desarrollo de nuevos productos de la empresa en los sectores público y privado. Bajo su liderazgo, la misión de Wise Responder es cerrar la “brecha de datos sociales” al capacitar a instituciones financieras, corporaciones, inversionistas institucionales y gobiernos de todo el mundo para utilizar sus métricas del Índice de Pobreza Multidimensional (MPI) y el Índice ODS1. Esto les permite tomar decisiones objetivas basadas en métricas que mejoran el impacto de las inversiones sostenibles, reducen riesgos operativos y empresariales, y fomentan el crecimiento económico mediante la creación de financiamiento e inversión vinculados a la sostenibilidad.
Vanusia Nogueira
Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO)
Program
Eastern Time
07:30 – 08:00 | Registration
08:10 – 08:30 | Welcome remarks
08:10 – 8:20 Sergio Díaz-Granados. Executive President, CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean
08:20 – 08:25 | Juan Esteban Orduz. President, World Coffee Producers Forum
08:25 – 08: 28 | Vanusia Nogueira, Executive Director, International Coffee Organization
08:28 – 08: 30 | Jamie Coats, Executive Director, Wise Responder – Oxford
08:30 – 9:15 | Keynote: How to support producing countries towards sustainable development? Prosperity for Coffee Producers through National Coffee Sustainability Plans based on the SDGs
Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University
09:15 – 09:25 | Questions and answers
09:25 – 09:30 | Closing and call to action
