Introducing the innovative ESG+T concept, uniting tradition and technology to drive transformation with environmental, social, and governance responsibility

The new “Cafés do Brasil” strategy places technology at the heart of both tradition and sustainable transformation in Brazilian coffee growing. It reflects respect for people and the environment and emphasizes that technology is the driving force enabling the sector to cultivate innovation and harvest development. Developed by the coffee production chain and the federal government in partnership with agency Design Bridge and Partners, the innovative ESG+T concept anchors the sector’s brand repositioning and was officially presented today, November 5, during the International Coffee Week (SIC) in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.

The repositioning underscores how Brazil’s coffee tradition, strengthened by technological progress, drives a continuous process of transformation that, in turn, renews its tradition. In practice, this ongoing cycle unfolds through everyday actions that promote social inclusion, fair labor conditions, improvements in the Human Development Index (HDI), and the active protection of native biomes. In short, technology is the driving force that cultivates innovation and harvests development.

“We wanted the brand repositioning of Cafés do Brasil to better reflect what we stand for in light of new consumer market demands, and we have refreshed the brand’s visual and verbal identity to ensure it is aligned with our core message, especially regarding environmental, social, and governance responsibility. This effort brings together all stakeholders to develop solutions through innovation and technology, while continuing to generate progress for our country and for every region where coffee thrives,” explains Fabrício Andrade, President of the National Coffee Commission of the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA).

The Cafés do Brasil repositioning project led by the agency Design Bridge and Partners was carried out in partnership with the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA) and included contributions from the Brazilian Coffee Industry Association (ABIC), the Brazilian Soluble Coffee Industry Association (ABICS), the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé), the National Coffee Council (CNC), the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA), and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa).

Speaking on behalf of the organizations, Andrade adds that the studies highlighted a clear need to more effectively communicate the Brazilian coffee sector’s ability to generate positive environmental and social impacts. This message is reflected in the strategic concept of adding a “T” — for Technology — to the ESG acronym, which the sector will now adopt as ESG+T.

“Cafés do Brasil continues to serve us well as a symbol of Brazil’s leadership in producing coffee with quality, consistency, food safety and sustainability. Our goal in updating the brand was to bring it closer to the needs of society, consumers and the companies that buy Brazilian coffee, improving the way we communicate about the product and giving national coffees the recognition they deserve for their quality and sustainable practices,” he added.

The strategic repositioning of Brazil’s coffee production chain also led to an update of the Cafés do Brasil logo, which now allows for easier application across digital media, an essential feature for effective communication campaigns, while preserving the brand’s well-established recognition built by the previous logo.

“Our brand identity has been subtly refined to modernize and reinterpret its legacy for the present and future. The brand now reflects trust, convenience, ethics, authenticity, inspiration, and diversity, a combination that strengthens its credibility as a broad communication platform engaging society, business partners, and consumers, while celebrating the richness of cultures, people, and flavors that define Brazilian coffee growing”, Andrade concluded.

MORE THAN ESG — CAFÉS DO BRASIL IS ESG+T
The assessment conducted by Design Bridge and Partners showed that the quality and diversity of Brazilian coffees are both a tradition and a source of national pride. This finding inspired the sector’s repositioning to emphasize what defines the country’s coffee production on a daily basis: technology as the central element of sustainability, something truly unique in the global coffee industry.

To reinforce this relevance, the agency recommended that the brand should place greater emphasis on environmental and social responsibility, as well as on quality and authenticity. When it came to standing out, the task was to bring out innovation, individuality and a modern sensibility.

This strategic vision gave rise to a new concept: ESG+T, in which tradition meets technology to drive transformation and combine environmental, social and governance responsibility. From now on, “cultivating innovation and harvesting development” is the purpose that defines the Cafés do Brasil brand.

According to Renor Sell Junior, Strategy Director at Design Bridge and Partners, the repositioning marks an important milestone in the history of Cafés do Brasil. “It shows that Brazil is not only a major coffee producer but also a leader capable of uniting tradition and the future. By integrating technology and sustainability, we have built a model that honors our roots and paves the way for continued growth across the coffee chain, from producers to consumers,” he said.

The agency adds that the brand’s identity was redesigned to reflect this new phase, one that is confident, convenient, ethical, authentic, inspiring and diverse. These elements served as the foundation for its revitalization, reinterpreting the brand’s legacy for the present and the future. The iconic logo was refined to reflect the influence of technology with a clean, contemporary aesthetic, while maintaining the brand’s strong visual identity.

The creative process led to the development of the ESGT Fields graphic system, a generative tool that translates the brand’s positioning into dynamic visual expressions, depicting coffee fields as vibrant, diverse works of digital art. This new visual narrative is complemented by brand photography that moves away from rustic, handcrafted clichés to reveal the modern, diverse and human side of Brazil’s technologically driven coffee production.

“The new identity seeks to reinterpret the Cafés do Brasil brand through the ESG+T lens, in both form and color. We respected the legacy of the logo but projected it into the future with the generative ESGT Fields system, which translates innovation into art. Together with the photography, it completes the storytelling, revealing how advanced, modern and human our coffee production truly is,” concluded Shingo Sato, Design Director at Design Bridge and Partners.


CAFÉS DO BRASIL FACT SHEETS
–1Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer. In the 2024/25 crop year, the country produced 54.2 million 60kg bags, accounting for 31% of global production (176.2 million bags, according to the ICO).

-2Brazil is also the world’s largest coffee exporter. In 2024, 50.4 million bags were shipped to about 120 countries. The main destinations were:

  • United States: 8.1 million bags
  • Germany: 7.6 million bags
  • Belgium: 4.3 million bags
  • Italy: 3.9 million bags
  • Japan: 2.2 million bags

–3Brazil has the world’s largest soluble-coffee industrial complex, with an installed capacity of 132 thousand tons of instant coffee and related products.

–4Brazil is the world’s second-largest coffee consumer, with annual consumption of 21.9 million bags, second only to the United States.

–5Brazil has one of the world’s largest coffee germplasm banks, holding about 5,000 accessions – plants with distinct genetic and phenotypic characteristics.

–6Brazil has 174 coffee varieties registered in the Federal Government’s National Cultivar Registry (RNC), including 128 Coffea Arabica and 46 Coffea Canephora varieties.

–1Since the mid-1980s, Brazil has reduced its coffee-growing area by 40%, while increasing total output by 87%, thanks to investment in technology, genetic improvement and adoption of good agricultural practices – boosting productivity by 130%.

–7Coffee-producing states preserve 43.9 million hectares of native vegetation within rural properties.

–899% of the 115 thousand coffee farms in Minas Gerais registered in the Environmental Rural Registry (CAR) show no significant deforestation after 2008, qualifying the state’s coffee production as a deforestation-free supply chain.

–8About one-third of coffee-producing rural properties preserve more native vegetation than required by the Forest Code, totaling 302 thousand hectares of surplus forest that provide essential ecosystem services to coffee production.

–9A study coordinated by Professor Carlos Eduardo Cerri of the University of São Paulo (USP) and the NGO Imaflora found that, on average, 183 tons of CO₂ equivalent are stored in permanent preservation areas and legal reserves on the evaluated Arabica coffee farms.

-9The adoption of good agricultural practices—such as adding organic matter to the soil, maintaining ground cover between coffee rows, and favoring organomineral fertilizers—enables coffee farming to retain about 10.5 t CO₂-eq per hectare per year in the soil and plants, more than it emits to the atmosphere.

–9For Conilon coffee, the same study by USP and Imaflora found that for each hectare cultivated per year, 338.67 t CO₂-eq are stored in preserved native vegetation within the farms.

-9When land use shifts from pasture to conventional Conilon coffee production, the carbon balance is negative at approximately 3.01 t CO₂-eq per hectare per year.

–9This figure drops further, to –8.24 t CO₂-eq per hectare per year, when the shift goes from pasture to sustainable Conilon coffee production.

–9When agricultural practices shift toward more conservation-oriented management within Conilon farms, the carbon balance is also negative, at approximately –1.36 t CO₂-eq per hectare per year.

–10Brazil is the most advanced coffee origin in meeting EUDR requirements. The Cafés do Brasil Socio-Environmental Monitoring Platform enables exporters to generate conclusive and verifiable evidence that Brazilian coffee is deforestation-free after December 31, 2020, and produced in compliance with the relevant Brazilian legislation.

–10This evidence is drawn from official public databases of the Brazilian government and widely used deforestation monitoring systems including Prodes and MapBiomas Alerta, all of which are auditable. By overlaying this information with the CAR database, the platform enables exporters to provide conclusive proof that Brazilian coffee is not cultivated on deforested land.

–11In Rondônia, with the use of geotechnology and satellite imagery, zero deforestation was detected in seven of the 15 coffee-growing municipalities between 2020 and 2023. Across the region, less than 1% of the total coffee-growing area shows any signs of forest removal.

 

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Sources: 1Conab; 2Cecafé; 3ABICS; 4ABIC; 5IAC; 6MAPA; 7Embrapa Territorial; 8UFMG; 9Prof. Cerri (USD) / Imaflora; 10Cecafé/Serasa Experian; 11Embrapa.