Dispatches Monday 2nd March, 8pm on Channel 4

25 February 2020

Dispatches

Monday 2nd March, 8pm on Channel 4

The truth about your coffee…

Channel 4’s Dispatches reveals child labour on coffee farms that supply beans to Nespresso.

George Clooney, the face of Nespresso, has praised Channel 4’s investigation and said he was saddened by its findings. He has called on the Nespresso board to do more.

Nespresso has launched an immediate investigation.

An investigation by Dispatches to be broadcast on Monday night will reveal that child labour is being used on coffee farms that supply Nespresso – a best-selling coffee brand fronted by George Clooney.

Despite claims by the coffee brand - owned by the Swiss corporation Nestlé - that its beans comes from ethical sources,  Dispatches filmed children working in gruelling conditions and excessive hours being paid less than £5 for a long day of picking. Some children can work up to 8 hours a day six days a week and then have to carry heavy sacks of beans to a weighing area.

Nespresso does not publicly list the farms that supply them coffee, but Dispatches obtained information about their suppliers in Guatemala - the 10th biggest coffee producer in the world and renowned for the high quality of its beans.

After initial visits to some of these farms found evidence of child labour being used, Dispatches returned to Guatemala to find out more. Posing as researchers scouting locations for a film showing where some of Britain’s favourite coffee comes from, reporters were able to get access to farms often located in remote regions of the country.  In all the farms visited children were seen to be working.

Reporter Antony Barnett contacted George Clooney detailing some of the evidence he had seen in Guatemala.

In a statement Mr Clooney said: “Having grown up working on a tobacco farm from the time I was 12 I’m uniquely aware of the complex issues regarding farming and child labour. That’s why I joined the Sustainability advisory board of Nespresso seven years ago along with the Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade International, and the Fair Labour Association among many others with the goal then, as it remains to this day to improve the lives of farmers. Make their farms more profitable. More sustainable. More safe. I’m enormously proud of the success of their efforts. They’ve improved the lives and livelihoods of thousands of farms all around the world. They’ve risked their lives trying to rebuild farms in South Sudan and spent a year on the ground helping farmers restore their farms in Puerto Rico after the hurricane. The simple truth is that this program is overwhelmingly positive for coffee farmers around the world. With that in mind it is also imperative to have talented investigative reporters showing the board where they have yet to succeed. We knew it was a big project when it started 7 years ago, and honestly, I was surprised and saddened to see this story. Clearly this board and this company still have work to do. And that work will be done. I would hope that this reporter will continue to investigate these conditions and report accurately if they do not improve. The check and balance of good corporate responsibility lies not just with the company itself but also independent journalists like Mr. Barnett to hold everyone’s promise to account.”

Channel 4’s Dispatches requested an interview with Nespresso but they regrettably declined. We understand that ahead of our programme, Nespresso’s chief executive has called the Press Association to offer an interview announcing they are launching their own investigation into what we discovered.

In a statement to Dispatches, Nespresso Guillaume Le Cunff CEO of Nespresso said: “Nespresso has zero tolerance of child labour. It is unacceptable. Where there are claims that our high standards are not met, we act immediately. In this case, we’ve launched a thorough investigation to find out which farms were filmed and whether they supply Nespresso. We will not resume purchases of coffee from farms in this area until the investigation is closed. Any issues we uncover will be dealt with diligently and firm action will be taken.  We work with Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade International to reinforce good working practices and fair treatment of workers, including education on the dangers of child labour. We invest heavily in this effort; in 2019, our 400 agronomists made over 170’000 farm visits and trainings across the world, including 60’000 detailed on farm sustainability assessments. This was backed up by more than 3,300 third party verification farm audits.  We will continue to do all we can to stamp child labour out.  It has no place in our supply chain.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Any use of information/statistics in this release must credit: Dispatches, Monday 2nd March, 8pm on Channel 4

Reporter

Antony Barnett

Producer

Katherine Haywood

Director

Joanna Burge

Exec Producer

Miki Mistrati