Starbucks Corporation CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ...

Tazo ® Tea – Sustainability PracticesTazo Tea is one of several brands within Starbucks portfolio,and is sold in Starbucks stores, grocery stores and otherretail outlets.Global tea production in 2006 was 7.6 billion pounds (3.5billion kilograms). In fiscal 2006, Tazo purchased 5.7 millionpounds (2.6 million kilograms) of tea and botanicals from25 countries.In previous years we focused our sustainability reporting forTazo on purchases of organic ingredients. Tazo has movedaway from this singular focus on organic purchasing in orderto pursue a more comprehensive sustainability strategy for ourtea sourcing.As part of this strategy, Tazo joined the Ethical TeaPartnership (ETP) to ensure the teas we purchase areproduced in a socially responsible way. ETP is a unique, longtermethical sourcing initiative, set up to work in partnershipwith producers to independently monitor living and workingconditions in tea gardens. The organization also works toimprove the working conditions in the tea industry.Additionally, in fiscal 2006 we began purchasing some teafrom smallholder tea growers in order to develop closer tieswith tea-growing communities and help support smallholderfarmers in and around the Himalayan foothills of Darjeeling,India. We worked in partnership with the DarjeelingEarth Group (DEG), a nonprofit organization focused onenvironmental and social issues, to collaborate with teagrowers on better tea production and green leaf handlingtechniques.Similar to Starbucks holistic approach to responsible coffeesourcing, Tazo combines its commitment to purchaseresponsibly grown tea with a social development strategy.At the center of Tazo’s social development strategy is ourCommunity Health and Advancement Initiative (CHAI),which we launched in conjunction with Mercy Corps in2002, and which remains our way of giving back to theregions that produce Tazo ® tea ingredients. Funding forCHAI comes from Tazo, its tea suppliers and Starbucks. Since2003, nearly $1.4 million has been contributed to the CHAIProject, including donations in fiscal 2006 of $301,000 fromTazo and its suppliers, and $100,000 from Starbucks.Today CHAI is a partnership between Tazo, Mercy Corps,DEG, and the Assam Branch of the India Tea Associationand is aimed at improving the lives of community membersliving in tea estates and neighboring communities. Workingwith local Community Action Groups, CHAI works todemocratically identify and address common problemsthrough a community mobilization process to improve thequality of life through health, economic development andyouth initiatives.During fiscal 2006, the CHAI Project expanded a pilotthat originally began in 2005 in four cardamom-producingcommunities in Guatemala, and now encompasses ninecommunities. As a result of expanding the project, anadditional 1,000 people have benefited.In fiscal 2006 we laid the groundwork to expand the CHAIProject into the Assam region of India, an area where Tazopurchases tea. Next year, we plan to develop programsfocused on income generation and education programs thathelp to improve economic opportunities for farmers andfamilies living on tea estates in the region.F U T U R E G O A L SOur goals for fiscal 2007 include:• Completing development of a long-term strategy forTazo’s sustainable tea sourcing initiative.• Developing a three-year strategic plan for the CHAIProject.• Launching the CHAI Assam Project in four teaestates, and expand CHAI Guatemala to twoadditional villages.P R O D U C T S 31