Monika Firl

• Director of Sustainability
• CoopCoffees

Monika Firl has worked in the CoopCoffees Montreal office since 2002, initially as Green Buyer and Producer Relations Manager, and now since 2017, as Director of Sustainability. Monika got her start in coffee while living and working in Central America and Mexico from 1991 to 2000, with experiences that range from: founding a community-focused information center in San Salvador focused on alternative technologies; coordinating a Campesino-a-Campesino learning and exchange program focused on sustainable production practices and market alternatives with farmer groups across the region; and, facilitating technical trainings and marketing development with coffee producers’ cooperatives in Chiapas — including Maya Vinic with whom CoopCoffees maintains a relationship to date. Monika holds a Master’s Degree in Journalism as well as a BA in International Relations and German.

Intro to CoopCoffees:

CoopCoffees is a green coffee importing cooperative committed to supporting and partnering with small-scale, organic and fair trade coffee farmers and their exporting cooperatives. By importing directly from our partner-farmers, we’re building our business with an objective of creating a fairer, more transparent and sustainable example of coffee trade that directly benefits farmers, and their families and communities. Owned by our 23 coffee roaster members, we strive collectively to understand our partners' needs and how we can support them in accessing the expertise and learning experiences to improve their production capabilities and organizational goals. We measure the impact of our relationships not only in economic terms, but also in terms of overall quality of life for our partners and their communities.

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About This Talk

Join Monika Firl, the Director of Sustainability for CoopCoffees, in discussion and a dynamic exchange about "CO2 Responsibility" and the "Carbon, Climate and Coffee Initiative” — launched by CoopCoffees in 2017. In this session, we'll look at: some of the on-going, climate-change challenges facing coffee producing regions around the world; examples of what this North American network of independent coffee roasters has accomplished, in close collaboration with their producer partners, to offset their CO2 emissions to date; and, the enormous potential within our reach as an industry to make coffee a positive force for regeneration — both for people and for the planet.