GEPA

Fair to People, Fair to Nature: GEPA – the Fair Trade Company

Dialogue, transparency, respect: These are the keystones of Fair Trade. And since its founding in 1975, this is what GEPA has stood for with its name. GEPA stands for “Society for the Promotion of Partnerships with the Third World” (“Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Partnerschaft mit der Dritten Welt”). Today GEPA no longer talks about supporting “Third World” trade, but about partnership!

At the heart of GEPA

The organisation’s primary objectives are:

• To foster fair trade relationships – in particular, with disadvantaged producer groups in the Global South
• To raise consumers’ awareness through educational and public relations activities
• To contribute to structural changes in world trade with political lobbying.

Fair+ in a Nutshell = Fair, Organic, Sustainable, Innovative

GEPA has always acted sustainably and has contributed to making history, such as in the late 1970s through the “Jute Instead of Plastic” campaign. Today, GEPA works to safeguard the environment and promotes action against climate change, from reforestation projects with trading partners, to bicycles to get to work and using eco-energy for the Wuppertal headquarters.

GEPA has been a prominent player in the climate debate for years:

• In 2011, GEPA initiated the first measurement of its carbon footprint in Germany. Since then, it has been supporting a reforestation project with its trading partner ATPI in the Philippines
• About 86.5 per cent of GEPA’s food sales come from certified organic cultivation products
• In 2017, GEPA launched a fund to finance small projects of trading partners such as those that promote climate protection, human rights and conversion to organic farming. Also, in 2021, during the pandemic, the partners received special support
• As of this year, GEPA is certified climate-neutral, from the port in Germany where they receive the materials to the store shelves. The company measures its carbon footprint and offsets the CO₂ emissions it produces through the ecclesiastical compensation fund of the Church “Klima-Kollekte”.

For more information about the company, visit: www.gepa.de