Every Cup Counts: How Change Please is Answering Nature's Call

World Environment Day, 5 June 2026

We've always said a cup of coffee can change a life. Turns out a lot of cups can have a go at changing a planet too. So, on World Environment Day, this year, themed "Inspired by Nature. For Climate. For Our Future", we want to talk about both. Stick with us; it connects.

Why Climate Change and Homelessness Are Linked

Here's something that doesn't come up nearly enough: homelessness and climate change aren't two separate problems. They're the same one, wearing different coats.

Floods, heatwaves, record cold snaps, and extreme weather hit people sleeping rough first and hardest, because when the weather turns, there's nowhere to retreat to. The communities most exposed to the climate emergency are, again and again, the same communities we work with every day. That's not a coincidence. It's a pattern. And it's exactly why we think social justice and environmental action belong in the same sentence, not in separate strategy decks.

Coffee Is on the Front Line of Climate Change

Coffee is one of the most traded commodities on Earth, and one of the most climate vulnerable. The regions where arabica and robusta grow best are being squeezed by rising temperatures, unpredictable rain and seasons that no longer behave. The farmers growing the beans in your cup are on the front line of all of it, usually with the fewest resources to adapt. Bit of an injustice, that.

Our answer is ethical, direct sourcing: building real relationships with farming communities and making sure fair prices actually reach the source. We call it From Farms to Futures, supporting farmers in producing countries while funding job training and life transformation closer to home. Buy a Farms to Futures coffee, and you're backing people at both ends of the supply chain. Two birds, one flat white.

What "Inspired by Nature" Means for an Ethical Coffee Business

This year's theme asks us to treat nature not as a resource to strip-mine but as a teacher. We've taken that fairly literally.

Nature doesn't waste. Everything has a purpose, a cycle, a second life, and we try to run our business the same way. Our cups are 100% recyclable, and our packaging is sustainable. And no one pulls value out of the business through dividends because every penny of profit goes back into the mission. We think about our enterprise the way an ecosystem works: every part should contribute; nothing should be squandered.

How Sustainable Coffee Is a Genuine Climate Action

The scale of the climate crisis can feel paralysing, we get it, but World Environment Day is a useful reminder that the everyday choices add up. When you choose Change Please coffee, here's what your order is quietly doing:

• Backing a living wage for people rebuilding their lives after homelessness
• Funding ethical sourcing that reaches farmers fairly, not eventually
• Paying for mental health support, housing access and skills training
• Choosing recyclable packaging over single-use waste
• Telling the market that customers expect better, for people and for the planet

That's climate action, and it just happens to arrive in a very good cup of coffee.

Our Commitment, and the Bit We're Still Working On

We'd rather be honest than impressive, so we're owning that there's always more to do.

We're actively working on cutting the carbon footprint of our supply chain further, sourcing more responsibly as we grow, and building environmental thinking into every decision we make. We don't have all the answers yet, but transparency, ambition and accountability feel like the right place to start, and a better look than pretending we've got it all sorted.

As the UN Environment Programme put it today: "The question is no longer whether change is coming, but how humanity guides it and how fast."

We know which way we're heading.

Stand With Us This World Environment Day

Every day, you get a choice about where your coffee comes from and what it stands for. We'd love you to make it with us, for the people sleeping rough on our streets, for the farmers growing beans under a changing sky, and for the one planet we're all sharing.

Change Please CIC is a certified B Corporation and award-winning social enterprise. 100% of profits fund our programmes supporting people experiencing homelessness into employment, housing and independent lives.  

Visit our London cafes and shop our coffee online.