What if a farmer's commitment to the environment could open the door to financing? In Honduras, that idea is becoming a reality for the first time — and the Hamburg Coffee Company (HACOFCO) is proud to be part of it. A coalition of key stakeholders, supported by the European Union and Germany, is transforming smallholder coffee farmers' environmental compliance data into verifiable information for formal credit access through a digital marketplace.

After months of work linking coffee plantations in Copán (Honduras) to consumers in Germany, a milestone has been achieved: the first EUDR-Ready coffee shipment from producers registered on the country's only agricultural credit marketplace. The pilot export of Capucas coffee is part of a commercial agreement covering 10 containers, equivalent to 189.52 tons, reflecting the work of 170 smallholder farmers: 36 women, 16 young people, and 118 men. Their commitment demonstrates that Honduran coffee can supply European consumers without felling a single tree, while creating new pathways toward financial inclusion.

For HACOFCO, this project is about more than regulatory compliance with the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR). Traceable, deforestation-free sourcing secures the consistent quality our customers expect and strengthens the long-term resilience of our supply base.

The data collected to comply with EUDR — traceability, deforestation-free status, commercial history, and legal production — is precisely the information financial institutions need to assess a producer. Through the digital marketplace developed by Confianza SA-FGR, financial institutions can view the production profile of each coffee farmer who complies with European anti-deforestation standards and make concrete financing offers. ODEF is the first financial institution to join the pilot. By supporting farmers' access to formal credit, the project helps ensure that the producers behind our coffee can keep investing in quality and climate adaptation — a direct benefit to the stability of our sourcing.

This initiative has been made possible through the invaluable partnership with Confianza SA-FGR, the Capucas Coffee Cooperative (COCAFCAL), the Hamburg Coffee Company (HACOFCO), and the technical leadership of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.

The project is supported by SASI's Due Diligence Fund, implemented by GIZ and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is furthermore supported by the Great Forests of Mesoamerica Programme and the Coffee and Forests Initiative, co-funded by the European Union and the German Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI).