George Clooney said that he is “surprised and saddened” by the alleged discovery of child labor on farms used by coffee giant Nespresso, the brand for which he has long served as ambassador.
The Oscar-winning actor and director, who during school holidays worked on his own family’s tobacco farm in Kentucky, vowed that “work will be done” to improve conditions after a UK Dispatches documentary, due to air next week, filmed children picking coffee beans and hauling sacks on six Guatemalan farms believed to supply Nespresso.
“Having grown up working on a tobacco farm from the time I was 12, I’m uniquely aware of the complex issues regarding farming and child labor,” Clooney said in a statement. “Clearly this board and this company still have work to do. And that work will be done.”
In response, the company, which is part of Swiss conglomerate Nestle and advertises its coffee as ethically sourced, has launched a “thorough investigation” into its farms in Guatemala and suspended all purchases from the problem plantations.
“Nespresso has zero tolerance of child labor,” Nespresso chief executive Guillaume Le Cunff said in a statement. “It is unacceptable. Where there are claims that our high standards are not met, we act immediately. Any issues we uncover will be dealt with diligently and firm action will be taken.”
In his statement, Clooney, who has been the public face of the coffee company for 14 years and sits on Nespresso’s sustainability advisory board, said he was “enormously proud of the success of [Nespresso’s] efforts” in “improv[ing] the lives and livelihoods of farmers all around the world.”
However, he said that investigative journalism played an “imperative” role in pointing out Nespresso’s failures and that more needed to be done to bring the company in line with its ethical standards.
“The check and balance of good corporate responsibility lies not just with the company itself, but also independent journalists like [Dispatches reporter Anthony] Barnett to hold everyone’s promise to account,” he said.
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