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Ethical Tea Partnership
https://etp-global.org/
ETP was founded by a coalition of tea companies with a shared concern to understand supply chain risks. Today, ETP is a global membership organisation catalysing long-term, systemic change, to benefit everybody who works in tea – especially people in tea-producing regions. Our work addresses the key issues within economics, equality, and the environment. The issues in the tea sector are complex; they are caused by a multitude of factors and cannot be addressed by one stakeholder alone.
https://etp-global.org/
ETP was founded by a coalition of tea companies with a shared concern to understand supply chain risks. Today, ETP is a global membership organisation catalysing long-term, systemic change, to benefit everybody who works in tea – especially people in tea-producing regions. Our work addresses the key issues within economics, equality, and the environment. The issues in the tea sector are complex; they are caused by a multitude of factors and cannot be addressed by one stakeholder alone.
Article; Leefbaar loon voor theeplukkers lijkt uit zicht na overname van Unilevers theedivisie
https://www.ftm.nl/artikelen/leefbaar-loon-voor-unilevers-theeplukkers-uit-zicht?share=MuxZbTTOr6W5BG7HAaXhNkG2zyTrpkz2U1Zu46dabMF2fTfxbuhc0iqONXNCQZs%3D
Na een jarenlange stroom van misstanden in de productieketen en stokkende omzet verkocht Unilever zijn theebusiness, met merken als Lipton en Pukka, vorig jaar aan private equity investeerder CVC Capital. Voor kwetsbare theeplukkers in de keten werd het er niet beter op. ‘Dit zal de problemen die er nu al in de theesector zijn verergeren, zoals uitbuiting, lage lonen en misbruik.’
https://www.ftm.nl/artikelen/leefbaar-loon-voor-unilevers-theeplukkers-uit-zicht?share=MuxZbTTOr6W5BG7HAaXhNkG2zyTrpkz2U1Zu46dabMF2fTfxbuhc0iqONXNCQZs%3D
Na een jarenlange stroom van misstanden in de productieketen en stokkende omzet verkocht Unilever zijn theebusiness, met merken als Lipton en Pukka, vorig jaar aan private equity investeerder CVC Capital. Voor kwetsbare theeplukkers in de keten werd het er niet beter op. ‘Dit zal de problemen die er nu al in de theesector zijn verergeren, zoals uitbuiting, lage lonen en misbruik.’
Report, Tea Certification Data Report 2020
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Tea-Certification-Data-Report-2020.pdf
The main goal of this report is to present the scope and scale of the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ tea certification programs in 2020 – calendar year. The report is created to inform our stakeholders and is part of our commitment to transparency. The report focuses on the key indicators related to:
• Market uptake: sales of Rainforest Alliance Certified and UTZ certified tea;
• Program reach: estimated Rainforest Alliance Certified and UTZ certified tea production, premiums being paid and multi-certification.
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Tea-Certification-Data-Report-2020.pdf
The main goal of this report is to present the scope and scale of the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ tea certification programs in 2020 – calendar year. The report is created to inform our stakeholders and is part of our commitment to transparency. The report focuses on the key indicators related to:
• Market uptake: sales of Rainforest Alliance Certified and UTZ certified tea;
• Program reach: estimated Rainforest Alliance Certified and UTZ certified tea production, premiums being paid and multi-certification.
Rainforest Alliance Tea Traceability Webinar Slides
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/RA-Tea-Traceability-in-MultiTrace-Webinar-April-2022.pdf
Slides from a Rainforest Alliance presentation on tracebility in tea supply chains. Targeted audience is to RA certificate holders. Full traceability is a requirement of certification since July 2022.
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/RA-Tea-Traceability-in-MultiTrace-Webinar-April-2022.pdf
Slides from a Rainforest Alliance presentation on tracebility in tea supply chains. Targeted audience is to RA certificate holders. Full traceability is a requirement of certification since July 2022.
Tea Selling Mark Guidance
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/RA-G-MT-1-V1-Tea-Selling-Marks.pdf
A selling mark is the name under which the factory sells its tea. This may or may not be the same name as the garden mark (noting that smallholders do not have garden marks – garden marks are associated with estates and origins where tea was introduced/managed under a British system). Note: Buyers often use the term “garden mark”, or just “mark” as shorthand for selling mark. A selling mark is:
• Printed on the tea sacks shipped from farm CHs factories or bulking factories,
• Will be on purchase orders, contracts, invoices etc.,
• Is used in auction catalogues,
• Is used in the ERP systems of buyers, if they have one,
• In the Rainforest Alliance traceability platform selling mark is a key identifier in the
footprint together with variety and producer.
• The identity or "brand" of the tea as produced/packed/sold into the marketplace. It can denote the origin/factory/quality/type of the tea in question. Multiple grades (leaf quality / size) can be assigned under one Selling Mark.
A selling mark can be:
• The name of the garden producing the tea
• The name of the village/group/community producing the tea
• The factory name/location
• Part of the certificate name
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/RA-G-MT-1-V1-Tea-Selling-Marks.pdf
A selling mark is the name under which the factory sells its tea. This may or may not be the same name as the garden mark (noting that smallholders do not have garden marks – garden marks are associated with estates and origins where tea was introduced/managed under a British system). Note: Buyers often use the term “garden mark”, or just “mark” as shorthand for selling mark. A selling mark is:
• Printed on the tea sacks shipped from farm CHs factories or bulking factories,
• Will be on purchase orders, contracts, invoices etc.,
• Is used in auction catalogues,
• Is used in the ERP systems of buyers, if they have one,
• In the Rainforest Alliance traceability platform selling mark is a key identifier in the
footprint together with variety and producer.
• The identity or "brand" of the tea as produced/packed/sold into the marketplace. It can denote the origin/factory/quality/type of the tea in question. Multiple grades (leaf quality / size) can be assigned under one Selling Mark.
A selling mark can be:
• The name of the garden producing the tea
• The name of the village/group/community producing the tea
• The factory name/location
• Part of the certificate name
Paper, Revealing and concealing power in the sustainable tea
supply chain
https://research-api.cbs.dk/ws/files/69553351/matthew_archer_et_al_its_up_to_the_market_to_decide_publishersversion.pdf
In 2007, Unilever, the world’s largest tea company, announced plans to source its entire tea supply sustainably, beginning with the certification of its tea producers in East Africa to Rainforest Alliance standards. As a major buyer of Kenyan tea, Unilever’s decision pushed tea producers across Kenya to subscribe to Rainforest Alliance’s sustainable agriculture standard in order to maintain access to the global tea market; according to a 2018 report, over 85% of Kenya’s tea producers were Rainforest Alliance certified. Drawing on ethnographic material among supply chain actors across different sites along the sustainable tea value chain (from those designing and disseminating standards to tea traders to smallholder tea farmers), this article examines how these actors frequently attributed the power to determine the outcomes of certification to a faceless ‘market’. Deferring to ‘the market’, we observe, served primarily to mask theoutsized power of lead firms (in particular Unilever) to determine conditions of tea production and trade. At the same time, ‘the market’ was also in some cases qualified by our interlocutors, allowing them implicitly (and at times explicitly) to reveal power and give it a face.
https://research-api.cbs.dk/ws/files/69553351/matthew_archer_et_al_its_up_to_the_market_to_decide_publishersversion.pdf
In 2007, Unilever, the world’s largest tea company, announced plans to source its entire tea supply sustainably, beginning with the certification of its tea producers in East Africa to Rainforest Alliance standards. As a major buyer of Kenyan tea, Unilever’s decision pushed tea producers across Kenya to subscribe to Rainforest Alliance’s sustainable agriculture standard in order to maintain access to the global tea market; according to a 2018 report, over 85% of Kenya’s tea producers were Rainforest Alliance certified. Drawing on ethnographic material among supply chain actors across different sites along the sustainable tea value chain (from those designing and disseminating standards to tea traders to smallholder tea farmers), this article examines how these actors frequently attributed the power to determine the outcomes of certification to a faceless ‘market’. Deferring to ‘the market’, we observe, served primarily to mask theoutsized power of lead firms (in particular Unilever) to determine conditions of tea production and trade. At the same time, ‘the market’ was also in some cases qualified by our interlocutors, allowing them implicitly (and at times explicitly) to reveal power and give it a face.
Report, Certified Unilever Tea Small Cup, Big Difference? (2011)
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1961574
For this study one hundred tea workers were interviewed on a total of eight tea plantation companies, all supplying tea to Unilever. Seven of these plantations are located in India and the remaining plantation concerns Unilever?s own tea plantation in Kenya. It was found that working conditions on tea estates that supply Unilever are problematic despite having been certified by the sustainability standard system RA. This in turn raises concerns about the effectiveness and credibility of this standard. On all the RA certified estates in India there were issues with wages either including too few benefits or partly being paid in kind and not in cash. Also women workers are being discriminated against (promotion, benefits), many casual workers remain permanently casual and workers are applying pesticides without protective gear. Moreover, most of these issues constitute violations of Indian labour legislation and ILO standards as well as Unilever?s own standards for suppliers. All of them are violations of RA standards and should lead to withdrawal of RA certification.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1961574
For this study one hundred tea workers were interviewed on a total of eight tea plantation companies, all supplying tea to Unilever. Seven of these plantations are located in India and the remaining plantation concerns Unilever?s own tea plantation in Kenya. It was found that working conditions on tea estates that supply Unilever are problematic despite having been certified by the sustainability standard system RA. This in turn raises concerns about the effectiveness and credibility of this standard. On all the RA certified estates in India there were issues with wages either including too few benefits or partly being paid in kind and not in cash. Also women workers are being discriminated against (promotion, benefits), many casual workers remain permanently casual and workers are applying pesticides without protective gear. Moreover, most of these issues constitute violations of Indian labour legislation and ILO standards as well as Unilever?s own standards for suppliers. All of them are violations of RA standards and should lead to withdrawal of RA certification.
Paper, Sustainable Tea at Unilever (2012)
https://blogs.ubc.ca/courseblogsis_ubc_ba_504_001_2014w1-2_45258-sis_ubc_ba_504_001_2014w1-2_45258/files/2015/08/Sustainable-Tea-at-Unilever.pdf
In 2010, Unilever announced its commitment to a new “Sustainable Living Plan,” a document that set wide-ranging, companywide goals for improving the health and well-being of consumers, reducing environmental impact, and, perhaps most ambitiously, sourcing 100% of agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020. Such a goal implied a massive transformation of a supply chain that sourced close to 8 million tons of commodities across 50 different crops. Unilever CEO Paul Polman believed that the company’s ambitious goals could drive savings, product innovation, and differentiation across the company’s portfolio of products.
https://blogs.ubc.ca/courseblogsis_ubc_ba_504_001_2014w1-2_45258-sis_ubc_ba_504_001_2014w1-2_45258/files/2015/08/Sustainable-Tea-at-Unilever.pdf
In 2010, Unilever announced its commitment to a new “Sustainable Living Plan,” a document that set wide-ranging, companywide goals for improving the health and well-being of consumers, reducing environmental impact, and, perhaps most ambitiously, sourcing 100% of agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020. Such a goal implied a massive transformation of a supply chain that sourced close to 8 million tons of commodities across 50 different crops. Unilever CEO Paul Polman believed that the company’s ambitious goals could drive savings, product innovation, and differentiation across the company’s portfolio of products.
Implementing Quality and Traceability Initiatives among Smallholder Tea Producers in Southern India
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242185436_Implementing_Quality_and_Traceability_Initiatives_among_Smallholder_Tea_Producers_in_Southern_India
Tea production in the Nilgiri Hills of southern India is undergoing considerable change. The fall in global tea prices since 1998 has had devastating impacts in the Nilgiris, where the majority of tea is produced by peasant farmers on landholdings of less than one hectare. Prices paid for smallholder tea have declined by 47% against an average national decline of only 26% since 1998.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242185436_Implementing_Quality_and_Traceability_Initiatives_among_Smallholder_Tea_Producers_in_Southern_India
Tea production in the Nilgiri Hills of southern India is undergoing considerable change. The fall in global tea prices since 1998 has had devastating impacts in the Nilgiris, where the majority of tea is produced by peasant farmers on landholdings of less than one hectare. Prices paid for smallholder tea have declined by 47% against an average national decline of only 26% since 1998.
Creating Value for Competitive Advantage in Supply Chain Relationships: The Case of the Sri Lankan T
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23510254_Creating_Value_for_Competitive_Advantage_in_Supply_Chain_Relationships_The_Case_of_the_Sri_Lankan_Tea_Industry
This research uses a case study approach to identify the specific role of information and communication on exporter/importer relationships within the tea supply chain, and the impact on value addition, channel member performance and competitive advantage in the Sri Lankan tea industry.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23510254_Creating_Value_for_Competitive_Advantage_in_Supply_Chain_Relationships_The_Case_of_the_Sri_Lankan_Tea_Industry
This research uses a case study approach to identify the specific role of information and communication on exporter/importer relationships within the tea supply chain, and the impact on value addition, channel member performance and competitive advantage in the Sri Lankan tea industry.
Tetley's Supplier List 2021
https://www.tetley.co.uk/sites/g/files/gfwrlq181/files/2021-07/Tetley%20UK%20Supplier%20List%20%20updated%20as%20of%204th%20June%202021.pdf
"The link below lists all producers we have sourced tea from. We may have not bought from all of these producers in the past year, however we would consider them as part of our supply chain so long as they meet our sustainability and quality requirements."
VIA
https://www.tetley.co.uk/sites/g/files/gfwrlq181/files/2021-07/Tetley%20UK%20Supplier%20List%20%20updated%20as%20of%204th%20June%202021.pdf
"The link below lists all producers we have sourced tea from. We may have not bought from all of these producers in the past year, however we would consider them as part of our supply chain so long as they meet our sustainability and quality requirements."
VIA
Unilever Supplier Lists
Know-the-Chain's scorecard for food giant Unilever says approvingly that the company is "disclosing more information on its forced labor policies and practices than its peers across all themes". When looking at the actual supplier lists the company provides, it shows how low the bar is: it will have company names but no contact details, adressess, not even the country in all cases. Having for instance rainforest alliance certification codes available would also be a great help in verifying claims made. Finding the supplier lists took some googling as well, although they all seemed to be linked from this page.
Here are the ones I found:
Global Cocoa Suppliers – direct sourcing
2020 Soybean Suppliers Disclosure
2020 Tea Suppliers Disclosure
2020 Palm Oil supplier Disclosure
Know-the-Chain's scorecard for food giant Unilever says approvingly that the company is "disclosing more information on its forced labor policies and practices than its peers across all themes". When looking at the actual supplier lists the company provides, it shows how low the bar is: it will have company names but no contact details, adressess, not even the country in all cases. Having for instance rainforest alliance certification codes available would also be a great help in verifying claims made. Finding the supplier lists took some googling as well, although they all seemed to be linked from this page.
Here are the ones I found:
Global Cocoa Suppliers – direct sourcing
2020 Soybean Suppliers Disclosure
2020 Tea Suppliers Disclosure
2020 Palm Oil supplier Disclosure
Tea Supply Chain Tracker
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/tea-transparency-tracker
Monitoring tea industry responses to a call for supply chain transparency and company human rights policies.
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/tea-transparency-tracker
Monitoring tea industry responses to a call for supply chain transparency and company human rights policies.
Report, THE NEED FOR TRANSPARENCY IN TEA SUPPLY CHAINS
https://media.business-humanrights.org/media/documents/2021_Tea_Report_v4.pdf
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre sought to address this gap by approaching 65 major companies with a request for them to disclose their supply chain details to be held centrally in the first Tea Transparency Tracker. The 17 companies which disclosed ranged from large multinational corporations and supermarkets to small family-owned companies sourcing just a few tonnes of tea, making it clear the only thing stopping companies from being transparent was their own commitment and willingness. Only 10 companies fully disclosed and just seven committed to full transparency in the future
https://media.business-humanrights.org/media/documents/2021_Tea_Report_v4.pdf
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre sought to address this gap by approaching 65 major companies with a request for them to disclose their supply chain details to be held centrally in the first Tea Transparency Tracker. The 17 companies which disclosed ranged from large multinational corporations and supermarkets to small family-owned companies sourcing just a few tonnes of tea, making it clear the only thing stopping companies from being transparent was their own commitment and willingness. Only 10 companies fully disclosed and just seven committed to full transparency in the future
Understanding End-to-End Tea Traceability
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/insights/understand-end-to-end-traceability-for-tea/
Producers and companies will have a single transactional system to record all purchases and sales of Rainforest Alliance and UTZ certified tea, which also facilitates high level reporting for internal management, and for external disclosure, for example against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/insights/understand-end-to-end-traceability-for-tea/
Producers and companies will have a single transactional system to record all purchases and sales of Rainforest Alliance and UTZ certified tea, which also facilitates high level reporting for internal management, and for external disclosure, for example against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).