Explore the Standard
Start a Project
Join the Ecosystem
Event + News
Contact
Located an hour away from Shanghai is a unique immersion into the world and culture of Starbucks; the Starbucks Coffee Innovation Park (‘CIP’) in Kunshan city. The 80,000 m2 park holds an energy-efficient roasting plant, a state-of-the-art distribution center, and a RESET Embodied Certified immersive Experience Center.
Launched in September 2023, CIP is a landmark for Starbucks in China, showcasing ‘bean-to-cup’ vertical integration and setting a benchmark for sustainability in the country’s coffee industry. In line with Starbucks’ philosophy of "We give more than we take," sustainability is embedded in each part of the park - from the design and construction to the buildings’ operations. This is part of the coffee chain’s commitment to reduce its water and carbon footprint by half in 2030, compared to its FY19 baseline.
▲ Copyright @ Starbucks
As part of its sustainability agenda, Starbucks applied the RESET Embodied Standards to measure the carbon, circularity, and health performance of its experience center.
Starbucks had already applied the RESET Embodied Standards to an earlier flagship project, Shanghai’s Greener Store Lab, as early as 2021. The Greener Store Lab in Shanghai became the first in China to be certified under Starbucks’ Greener Store Program (‘GSP’)—an initiative launched by the coffee company in 2017 featuring performance-based standards that incorporate design and extend throughout the life of a store. It has a comprehensive range of 40 performance criteria focused on energy efficiency, water stewardship, responsible materials, waste diversion and more. Starbucks set a goal to build 10,000 greener stores around the world by the end of 2025 and is currently on target.
▲ Copyright @ Starbucks
Wanting to also assess the sustainability of its building materials, Starbucks used the RESET Standard to measure the store’s circularity. After carefully selecting materials and considering their future disassembly, the Shanghai Greener Store Lab achieved a 50% circularity rate for end-of-life, just over 10 times better than similar F&B projects.
The immersive Experience Center holds a multi-sensory showcase of the coffee journey and spotlights China’s specialty coffee industry. Compared to Shanghai’s Greener Store Lab, the Experience Center showed a 22.6% increase in circularity performance, a result that is 12.9 times higher than similar projects, and 3.2 times higher than the RESET average.
▲ Copyright @ RESET
This reflects Starbucks’ continued dedication to sustainability, as well as the importance the coffee company places on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as improving material circularity and the health impacts of its spaces.
Around 21% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the embodied carbon of building materials. Embodied carbon represents all the greenhouse gases emitted during the lifecycle of a material or product, converted to an equivalent CO2 value. In the context of buildings, embodied carbon is the total amount of CO2 equivalent that a building aggregates during its lifetime; this includes the materials, their transportation, construction, maintenance, demolition, and disposal.
The RESET Embodied Standards are designed to address carbon reductions through the lens of circularity and health.
▲ Copyright @ Starbucks
RESET believes that reducing embodied carbon in buildings begins with sourcing healthy materials. Prioritizing health enables circularity by ensuring materials can be reused, recycled and or composted. In turn, circularity eliminates greenhouse gas emissions caused by the disposal and extraction of raw materials from the environment.
"Carbon cannot be addressed in isolation - true progress and impact requires improving material circularity which in turn depends on enhancing material health by removing harmful chemicals. Each step in this process is essential and interconnected."
- Raefer Wallis, Founder of RESET
Read more about the RESET Embodied Standards here.
▲ Copyright @ Starbucks
The CIP Experience Center is a strong case study that highlights how the use of recycled and recyclable materials can reduce carbon emissions at the beginning and the end of a project, while increasing waste diversion and circularity.
Launching a gypsum board take-back program
A joint initiative was created between Starbucks and Knauf Group, a leading manufacturer of building materials and construction systems, to recycle gypsum boards. Gypsum board, sometimes called plasterboard, is a building material regularly used for interior walls and ceilings. The gypsum board take-back program helped raise end-of-life circularity by 13.7% and will divert 44.2 tons of waste from landfill.
▲ Copyright @ Starbucks
Waste diversion program for glass and mirrors
In an effort to divert waste glass and mirrors from landfill, Starbucks set up a collaboration with LVHE, a state-owned firm that focuses on sustainable resource utilization. Instead of discarding waste glass and mirrors into landfills, Starbucks and LVHE are reusing them to produce new construction materials, such as terrazzo. In total, this increased end-of-life circularity by 4.4% and will lead to a diversion of over 14.2 tons of waste from landfills.
Use of responsible flooring
Several types of flooring materials were used to help reduce the overall impact of the project. Flooring made from waste glass helped increase total circularity by 8% and divert 51.2 tons of waste from landfill. FSC certified wood flooring from Equality Timber helped further raise circularity, while the use of carbon-neutral carpets from Shaw and Interface contributed to a 5.6 ton reduction in carbon emissions.
▲ Copyright @ Starbucks
Other examples: terrazzo table bases
Other examples of thoughtful material choices include the vibrant terrazzo tables by LVHE, which sit inside the immersive Experience Center. Made from waste glass, these tables diverted 2.0 tons of waste from landfill and raised source-of-life circularity by 18.6%.
The strong embodied carbon, circularity, and health performance of Starbucks’ CIP Experience Centre underscores its deep commitment to sustainability and customer well-being. Innovative initiatives vetted during the project, such as the gypsum board and glass and mirror recycling programs, demonstrate Starbucks’ collaborative approach to greening its stores.
▲ Copyright @ RESET
In addition to meeting the RESET Embodied Standard, the Experience Centre also achieved RESET Air Certification for commercial interiors in October 2024. RESET Air is a standard for indoor air quality monitored in continuous time via sensors.
Read more about the RESET Air Standards here.
As the world’s largest coffee chain pioneers the adoption of sustainable building materials, it paves the path for more eco-friendly coffee shops to emerge around the globe.
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting high-quality arabica coffee. Today, with more than 36,000 stores worldwide, the company is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for every customer through every cup. To share in the experience, please visit us in our stores or online at https://stories.starbucks.com or www.starbucks.com.
RESET Standard is a non-profit organization providing a global framework for measurable sustainability in the built environment. Through performance and data-driven standards, RESET helps organizations reduce environmental impact and improve human health.
For more information about RESET, please visit: https://resetstandard.org/.