About our Report

Scope

The report for fiscal 2010 focuses on our three Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ focus areas: ethical sourcing (buying), environmental stewardship and community involvement. We have also included helpful links to information and resources found on Starbucks.com and in past reports regarding our financial, corporate governance, workplace and diversity policies and performance. In developing this report, we’ve covered topics and issues that we believe are important to Starbucks and our stakeholders. We either share information about those topics in the body of the report or direct readers to other resources. What we report has also been informed by the Global Reporting Initiative G3 Guidelines, a set of internationally recognized sustainability reporting standards. These key criteria are outlined in our GRI Index.

A high-level summary of our progress on Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ commitments is contained in our 2010 Global Responsibility Scorecard.

Boundaries

Our Global Responsibility Report for fiscal year 2010 focuses on the work we are doing in: ethical sourcing, community involvement and environmental stewardship. These are the areas of greatest importance to Starbucks, our customers and partners (employees), as well as non-governmental organizations and investors. We also know health and wellness and workplace practices are of considerable interest to our stakeholders. Information about these key topics can be found on Starbucks.com.

While our commitments are global, our report content is focused largely on Starbucks U.S. and Canada company-owned and operated retail stores and global supply chain operations – areas that represent the majority of Starbucks social, environmental and economic impacts. Our system for reliably collecting and reporting related data does not currently encompass all of our operations. For now, anecdotal information is included for international operations, licensed store operations and joint ventures, where available and relevant. A notable exception to this is information on total coffee purchases, which is for all Starbucks brands and retail stores, including Starbucks Coffee, Seattle’s Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia. Starting in fiscal year 2011 our goals specifically encompass company-owned stores globally.

Reporting Year

Starbucks fiscal year 2010 (September 28, 2009 – October 3, 2010), unless otherwise noted.

Currency

All references to currency are in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise noted.

Previous Reports

http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/learn-more/goals-and-progress

Information Integrity

Starbucks management is responsible for the preparation and integrity of the information being reported for fiscal 2010. Through a system of internal controls, including a comprehensive verification process involving internal subject matter experts, we believe this information fairly represents our global responsibility activities and performance results for the fiscal year 2010. External verification is provided by Moss Adams LLP. Read the Moss Adams Independent Assurance Report.

Forward-Looking Statements

Our reporting on global responsibility for fiscal 2010 includes forward-looking statements about the company’s business and the company’s future business plans, initiatives and objectives. These forward-looking statements are based on currently available operating, financial and competitive information and are subject to a number of significant risks and uncertainties. Actual future results may differ materially depending on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, coffee, dairy and other raw material prices and availability; successful execution of the company’s transformation strategy, restructuring, cost reduction and other initiatives; fluctuations in U.S. and international economies and currencies; the impact of competition; the effect of legal proceedings; and other risks detailed in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the “Risk Factors” section of Starbucks Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 3, 2010. The company assumes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements.