ICO Launches “Coffee Is Part of the Solution” Campaign

The International Coffee Organization (ICO) on Feb. 26 launched a 2026 global communications campaign called “Coffee Is Part of the Solution,” positioning coffee as a vehicle for socio-economic development and collaboration.

According to the ICO, the campaign will run throughout 2026 across the organization’s digital platforms, supported by videos, data insights and engagement with members and partners.

While the “Coffee Is Part of the Solution” campaign does not explicitly identify “the problem,” the global green coffee sector continues to rely on millions of smallholder farmers who face threats such as poverty, climate change, lack of market and technical resources, and more. Coffee has also been identified as a driver of deforestation and contributor to greenhouse gas emissions through overseas shipping, transport, roasting, cafe operations and other resource-intensive activities throughout the seed-to-cup journey. 

Yet the ICO said coffee contributes not only to farmer income and export earnings, but also to rural development, carbon sequestration and environmental sustainability, cultural heritage and stronger ties between producing and consuming countries, among other benefits. The campaign aims to highlight those contributions while encouraging “collective action across the value chain.”

“Coffee has always been more than a commodity. It is a catalyst for development, dialogue and cooperation,” ICO Executive Director Vanusia Nogueira said in today’s announcement of the campaign. “Through this campaign, we want to show that when the sector works together, coffee can support resilience, improve livelihoods and contribute meaningfully to solutions.”

The ICO, established in 1963 under the International Coffee Agreement framework, is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the sustainability of the coffee sector for producing and consuming countries. The United States pulled out of the International Coffee Agreement in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term.

In recent years, the ICO has sought to broaden participation from major private-sector actors and civil society through the International Coffee Agreement 2022. The organization also continues to be a key global source for coffee sector data, including its monthly market reports and macro-level global market reports.

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