Walmart's Vice President of Sourcing and Procurement, Latin America, Fernando Serpa announced that Walmart will source all of its private brand coffee sustainably by the end of 2020. This is part of their decision to join Conservation International's Sustainable Coffee Challenge.
Various retailers are part of this challenge, governmental and non-governmental, and Walmart is North America's first large retailer to join part of this effort to source coffee production more sustainably. Serpa explained in the corporate statement how he reinforced the expectation of providing (coffee) workers with safe and healthy working conditions at the first convening of the World Coffee Producers Forum. In his announcement he said, "During my remarks at the forum, I spoke to coffee sector representatives about how we can create a more equitable value chain that benefits customers, workers and businesses." This is reflected in Serpa's involvement to be engaged with coffee bean growers and other cultivators in order to help make Walmart's coffee value chain effective and sustainable.
