Tomorrow's Bites with Andrés and Sjacco What If Coffee Wasn't One of the Most Destructive Commodities On Earth? With Sebastian Nielsen, CEO of Slow Forest #90
Jul 30, 2025
Sebastian Nielsen, CEO of Slow Forest, is on a mission to transform coffee farming from a destructive industry to a regenerative powerhouse. He discusses the impact of conventional coffee production on deforestation and offers insights into how agroforestry can boost biodiversity and sustain smallholder livelihoods. Sebastian highlights the importance of indigenous knowledge in creating resilient landscapes and the financial viability of sustainable coffee. He also addresses consumer ignorance about coffee’s true environmental costs and the challenges faced in building a climate-positive supply chain.
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Coffee's Massive Environmental Toll
- Coffee is among the top six commodities driving deforestation and destroys forest at alarming rates.
- Sebastian says transforming coffee systems is necessary to stay within planetary boundaries and reverse nature loss.
From Investor To CEO Scaling Slow Forest
- Sebastian joined Slow Forest first as an investor backing feasibility studies before becoming CEO in 2021.
- He scaled the team from ~25 to ~300 employees operating across Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Reallocating Value Upstream
- Slow Forest focused on fixing upstream value capture by partnering directly with smallholder communities.
- They provided technical assistance, advance payments and seedlings to incentivize forest-preserving practices.