Methodology

Goal and scope

We want to know where the emissions of our coffee come from so we can reduce them, and to show them honestly to the people who buy it. The calculation follows ISO 14040/14044 for LCA and ISO 14067 for product carbon footprints, reported under the GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Standard. Only one impact category is calculated: global warming (GWP100, IPCC AR6).

Status of the claim

Every figure is an estimate and has not been verified by a third party. This is not an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and not a carbon-neutral claim.

Functional unit

1 kg of packed roasted coffee beans at Flo's warehouse in Yogyakarta. Figures per 100 g bag and per cup (15 g of coffee) are derived from it.

System boundary

Cradle-to-gate: from the farm to the packed beans at Flo's warehouse. Seven stages are counted:

1. Farm: synthetic fertiliser production, soil N₂O (direct, volatilisation, leaching; IPCC Tier 1, wet climate), CO₂ from urea, fuel for machines and cherry transport, and land use change emissions if the land was cleared less than 20 years ago.
2. Post-harvest: methane from fermentation wastewater (COD × Bo × MCF), composting or disposal of the pulp, mechanical drying, and pulper diesel.
3. Hulling and sorting: machine electricity and diesel.
4. Green coffee transport to Yogyakarta: distance × mass × a per tonne-km factor.
5. Roasting: LPG (including a preheat allowance) and machine electricity. LPG per kg of green coffee comes from our Artisan log of each batch.
6. Packaging: plastic, the aluminium layer, valve and label of each bag.
7. Flo warehouse: building electricity outside the roaster, divided by monthly output.

Not counted: pesticides, making machines and buildings, staff travel. Other coffee studies show these are small, but we list them as a limitation.

Scenarios to the cup

Shipping to the buyer, brewing, and the disposal of grounds and packaging are shown separately as scenarios you can pick, because Flo does not control them. The main figure never includes them.

Primary and secondary data

Primary data is measured from the operations of Flo or its partners. Secondary data comes from the literature or starting values and is always marked. Each coffee shows how much of its total comes from primary data.

Co-product allocation

If the coffee pulp or cascara is sold, the farm and post-harvest burden is split between the beans and the pulp by sales value (economic allocation). If it is discarded or composted, the beans carry the whole burden.

Carbon uptake and land use change

Carbon taken up by shade trees is reported separately and not subtracted from the product footprint. Land use change emissions are counted if the farm was cleared less than 20 years ago, spread evenly over 20 years.

Uncertainty

Every input has a value, a lower and an upper bound. A Monte Carlo simulation (5,000 runs, triangular distributions, a fixed seed so the result can be repeated) gives a 90% range (5th to 95th percentile). The sensitivity analysis raises one number by 20% to see its effect. The headline figure uses the best value of every input. Some inputs are more likely to be higher than lower (soil N₂O, for example), so the middle of the simulation can sit a little above the headline figure and the range is not symmetric.

Sources

Limitations

• The farm and post-harvest stages use secondary data until data from the partner farmer group comes in.
• LPG energy from the Artisan logs is calculated from the burner rating and burner percentage, not from weighing the gas bottle.
• The partner farmer group is named only once they agree.

Versions

Every published figure carries a label such as "Estimasi 2026 v1" and is never changed. New data becomes a new version, and older versions stay visible on the product page.

Privacy

This site uses the same Google Analytics and Meta Pixel as the Flo shop to count visits. We do not send the scenarios you pick or anything you type.