The Asia Tea Alliance (ATA) meeting held in Colombo on 27 November, brought together tea-sector leaders, policymakers, researchers, and smallholder representatives across six producer countries, to accelerate practical pathways toward a regenerative, resilient, and carbon-responsible tea sector.
The ATA is placing its current emphasis on the measurable leadership showcased through the Tea Reimagined Awards; recognising organisations and individuals driving regenerative action, credible assurance, and value-chain collaboration in tea.
Formed in April 2019, ATA was established to strengthen a unified regional platform for Asian tea producers in response to shared pressures including climate risk, rising input costs, and sustainability expectations, while ensuring smallholder voices are represented in sector coordination and solutions.
Focus on regenerative integrity: Outcomes, assurance, and producer benefit
A key message reinforced during the Colombo sessions was the need to protect the credibility of regenerative claims through clear outcomes, inclusive farm-level approaches, and third-party auditing with transparency alongside carbon integrity that ensures benefits flow to producers.
Speakers also cautioned against fragmented approaches where individual companies define “regenerative” on their own, highlighting the importance of cost-effective audits and shared assurance models across supply chains.
Tea Reimagined Awards: Recognising regenerative leadership and partnerships
The Tea Reimagined Awards recognised achievements across smallholder systems, corporate sustainability leadership, innovation, and regenagri-linked progress, including the enabling role of credible inspection and verification partners.
Award recipients:
- Asia Tea Alliance Smallholder Sustainability Leadership Award — Tea Smallholdings Development Authority (TSHDA)
- Asia Tea Alliance Sustainability Champion Award — Hayleys Plantations; Kelani Valley PLC; Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC; Horana Plantations PLC
- Asia Tea Alliance Innovation Award — Aitken Spence – Elpitiya Plantations PLC
- Asia Tea Alliance regenagri Trailblazer Award — Lumbini Tea Valley Ceylon
- Asia Tea Alliance Media Leadership Award —Nisthar Cassim, Editor/Chief Executive Officer, DailyFT
- Asia Tea Alliance regenagri Pioneer Award — Halgolla Estate
- Asia Tea Alliance regenagri Partnership Award — Control Union Inspections Ltd
- Asia Tea Alliance Social Impact Award - Plantation Human Development Trust
- Special Award — Dr. Shatadru Chattopadhayay, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Sri Lanka’s Tea Sector
regenagri in practice: From certification to value-chain innovation
The Colombo meeting reinforced regenagri as a practical, outcomes-based framework for strengthening climate resilience and quality systems at farm level—supported by credible, third-party assurance that protects the integrity of regenerative claims and enables scale across supply chains.
The award recipients illustrate how verified practice, effective partnerships and producer-linked benefit models can move regeneration from isolated initiatives to sector-wide delivery. As one example, Lumbini Tea Valley cited climate pressures and alignment with Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) as key drivers for its regenagri pathway, supported by Control Union and linked to an emerging carbon insetting approach within supply chains.
