SEATTLE — Starbucks has launched its new Global Responsibility Annual Report on the company's Shared Planet Web site, the company has announced. Visitors to the site can find and interact with sections of the report that are important to them and share parts of the report with friends via social networks like Digg or Facebook.
Features of the site include:
- An interactive coffee map that lets customers see the impact Starbucks is having in communities where its coffee is grown.
- A mug pledge that gives Starbucks customers the opportunity to officially pledge to bring in a reusable mug or tumbler for their beverages.
- A customizable report feature that enables customers to tailor their own report and download a printout based on specific areas of interest.
- A virtual tour of Starbucks' newest LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified store that highlights the green elements that will become incorporated into the design of all new company-owned stores.
Highlights from the 2008 report include:
- Ethical Sourcing — Seventy-seven percent of the 385 million pounds of coffee Starbucks bought in 2008 was responsibly grown and ethically traded. Starbucks renewed its five-year partnership with Conservation International with a three-year commitment for $7.5 million to proactively affect climate change by offering farmers incentives to prevent deforestation.
- Environmental Stewardship — All new company-owned stores will be LEED certified by 2010. Starbucks recently opened its newest LEED certified store near the company's first store at Seattle's Pike Place Market.
- Community Involvement — Starbucks tracked 246,000 hours of community service in fiscal 2008 by partners (employees) and customers. Many of them used V2V, Starbucks' online social network that helps connect volunteers all over the world. Starbucks also made 64 grants totaling $2.1 million to organizations supporting young people in fiscal 2008.
