IDH launches the Resilient Coffee Program to accelerate investment in regenerative coffee sourcing regions

IDH has launched the Resilient Coffee Program (RCP), a four-year program (2026-2030) to help build a regenerative, low-carbon and verifiable coffee value chain. Announced at a sustainable coffee round table in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam - the world's second-largest coffee producer, the program creates a new pre-competitive investment platform, enabling companies, governments and partners to co-invest in the long-term resilience of coffee value chains. The ALDI SÜD Group joins as the first front-runner investor, as IDH invites other roasters, traders, governments and buyers across Europe and America to help scale the initiative.

RCP is a multi-country platform initiated by IDH and co-developed with coffee growers, companies and partners across Vietnam, India, Colombia and Uganda. The program aims to generate around 500,000 tonnes of regenerative coffee annually, while reaching approximately 300,000 coffee farmers by 2030 across the four countries. Vietnam is the first country component to launch, with ALDI SÜD as the front-runner investor.

The program takes a landscape approach to strengthen the resilience of coffee-growing regions while helping companies build more sustainable and secure value chains. It engages the collectors and intermediaries closest to farmers as agents of change, incentivising them to provide the services and market support farmers need to adopt regenerative agriculture at scale.  This will be enabled through Compacts - shared, jurisdictional investment plans that align governments, companies and local institutions around common goals for productive agriculture, forest protection and improved farmer livelihoods within a coffee-growing landscape. 

Coffee production across the world's major producing countries is under growing pressure from climate change. Climate shocks are already reducing coffee yields by an estimated 10-30%, while rising temperatures could shrink the area suitable for coffee cultivation by 20-50% by 2050. In Vietnam, the 2024-25 drought cut national coffee output by around 20%, followed by destructive late-season flooding in the Central Highlands that left some farms needing up to two crop cycles to recover. Together with rising input costs and growing market expectations on traceability and emissions, these pressures underline the need for coordinated investment in resilient production systems that help farmers adapt while securing the future of coffee sector.

In Vietnam, RCP aims to reach around 75,000 coffee farmers – approximately 10% of the country's coffee-growing households, covering around 14% of its coffee area – over the next four years. It targets the adoption of regenerative practices, as defined by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform's Regenerating Together Framework, across up to 70% of participating farms, a reduction of an estimated 240,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions (approximately 15% below the baseline in 2026), and a 15% increase in farmer incomes. These outcomes will be underpinned by shared measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), traceability and co-claiming systems, enabling companies to measure, verify and credibly report progress.

Daan Wensing, CEO, IDH, said: "A resilient coffee sector cannot be built by any one company, or any one country, alone. Climate pressure, shifting market expectations and the need to support farmers all call for a different approach - one built on collaboration and shared investment. That is what the Resilient Coffee Program offers: an open, pre-competitive platform where roasters, traders and governments can co-invest in resilient coffee value chains, together."

As the first front-runner investor, the ALDI SÜD Group intends to help support the transition towards more regenerative agricultural practices and greenhouse gas emissions reduction in Robusta coffee production in Vietnam. The investment is aligned with the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform's Regenerating Together Framework, the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and emerging EU corporate due diligence requirements, helping strengthen the resilience of the value chain the company depends on.

"The long-term resilience of the coffee sector depends on supporting the farmers and communities at its foundation. Through initiatives like the Resilient Coffee Programme, we aim to work with partners across the value chain to promote regenerative farming practices, strengthen livelihoods, and support greater transparency and emissions reduction efforts in coffee production. By investing together, we can help ensure that our customers can continue to enjoy their morning cup of coffee for years to come." – Rachel Vujovic, Sustainability Director at the ALDI SÜD Group, said.

The launch is anchored in Vietnam's wider ambitions for a sustainable, deforestation-free and internationally competitive coffee sector.

"Coffee is one of Vietnam's most important agricultural sectors, and its future depends on becoming more sustainable and more resilient," said Mr Pham Ngoc Mau of the International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Agriculture & Environment of Vietnam. "We welcome the ALDI SÜD Group's investment and the Resilient Coffee Program, which bring the private sector alongside government to support our farmers and strengthen Vietnam's position as a responsible, high-quality origin."

The round table brought together governments, donors and leading coffee companies. Among them, JDE took part in the discussion and welcomed the initiative.

Mr. Sy Do, Sustainability Manager APAC at JDE Peet's, added: "Building resilience of the coffee as a sector is a shared responsibility. We were glad to take part in this round table and to see a program that invites the whole sector to invest together. We support the direction the Resilient Coffee Program is setting and look forward to exploring how we can contribute."

The Resilient Coffee Program is open to additional roasters, traders, governments and financing partners seeking to strengthen resilient coffee value chains through shared investment in Vietnam and across the program's four coffee origins.