Diego Lefèvre

Colombian eco-entrepreneur revolutionizing coffee production through reforestation

Diego Lefèvre is a Colombian environmentalist and founder of Café del Món, a coffee brand that plants two trees for every bag sold. Starting in 2008, he developed a unique business model combining coffee production with reforestation, creating the first carbon-negative coffee company in Latin America. His initiative has replanted over 2 million trees in Colombia's biodiverse Andes region, restoring habitats for endangered species like the Andean condor. Lefèvre's 2020 article in GreenBiz outlined his vision for regenerative agriculture. In 2016, he pioneered the 'Coffee with a Conscience' certification, requiring participating farmers to maintain 30% forest cover on their land. His work with indigenous communities has preserved 15,000 hectares of ancestral farmland while improving farmer incomes by 40%. Lefèvre's innovations inspired the Colombian government's 2021 National Reforestation Plan, which now incorporates his agroforestry methods. His TEDx talk "How Coffee Can Save Forests" has become a blueprint for sustainable business models worldwide.